Terror Twins Rescue
by keithallen
Summary: After the Terror Twins returned from space, Suzanne was made the Crown Princess due to Chika's death, and Queen Lucy is over zealous in making sure nothing happens to her. It is also tearing Suzanne's family apart. Eddie decides he has to do something about it, even if it means becoming a criminal.
1. Chapter 1

Terror Twins rescue mission

Ch 1

Losing Chika, Bill and their whole family to the asteroid-accident, Queen Lucy was very cautious about where Suzanne and her family were able to go. Eddie looked out over the lawn of the grand mansion they now inhabited. He was sitting out on the patio with a mostly full glass of scotch and ice. He had on a light blue shirt on that's unbuttoned to show his undershirt, and sporting a 5 day old stubble of a beard. After being sequestered to Earth after flying free around the universe, Eddie and his wives were climbing the walls. The three have their first fight over nothing.

Suzanne knew she had to take on the responsibility of being the Crown Princess, even though she hated it. Eddie found the best way he to support his wives was to stay out of their way. Polimare tried to be a good assistant to Suzanne. Of course Suzanne's mood was becoming increasingly jaded. It was hard to be around her. He pitied Polimare. The girl caught hell whenever his wives were home.

Eddie took a long pull from his full glass of scotch and ice. It didn't help. Any more, it didn't to anything except make hi numb. Numb was fine. His family was falling apart, and there was nothing he could do about it.

Zhena came out and squatted by Eddie. "Suzanne and Dianne will be home tomorrow, won't they?" Zhena asked.

Eddie shrugged. "I suppose, unless they kill each other," he grumbled. "I got between them once trying to stop it. I'm not getting thrown into the wall again. Of course, neither one did it. I just grew fuckin wings and flew face first into a wall all by myself."

He took a drink and looked at Zhena. "You know, for a while there, we could read each other's minds. Although it was a bit of a pain, I always knew what everyone was thinking. That was nice. I knew Suz and Diane's moods, what to do to make things better. Any more, I don't have a clue what's up with them except they are constantly in a bad mood. I doubt either one would even notice if I just walked away, let alone care that I was gone."

"We have all changed being here on Earth, and not for the better," Zhena agreed.

"For sure," Eddie agreed with a grunt. "Suzanne's head is filled with politics and 'royal'" he said, holding his fingers up in quotes, "concerns. I think Diane has forgotten anyone is her friend. She's bitter and combative. Polimare is Suzanne's whipping girl, and it seems Suzanne loves whipping her." He shook his head. "And the most screwed up thing? Wolverine has been in the maintenance hanger for what, nearly two years now? Although no one will say it, We've been banned from ever flying again."

"I got into the hanger yesterday," Zhena told him. "I slipped in through the air vent in the side of the building. The place is empty. No work's being done, and I don't even think power is turned on inside."

"Figures, Queen Lucy wants to keep us grounded and under her thumb," Eddie told her. "No data on where Bill and his family bought it, is there?"

"That's what I wanted to talk to you about," Zhena told him. "Right after we arrived here, Suzanne had asked me to look into what I could find about that crash. There was no information about it directly, but I have been studying the astronomical data. There is nothing to say an asteroid struck a ship, but the debris field was tracked. I have tracked the path of the debris field back to the point in space where it happened, the time it happened and the original trajectories of the masses involved."

Eddie perked up. "You know where and when," he said.

"Down to the point in space, and the relative speeds involved," Zhena stated. "I tried to tell Suzanne, she is so wrapped up in learning to be queen, she doesn't listen to anything else."

"True," Eddie agreed. He stared off at nothing for a moment, then said, "You said no one's in the hanger? No one around?"

"Yes, it's like a tomb."

Eddie looked at his drink. In a mussing tone, he said, "We used to make our destiny, not just live up to what someone else said our destiny was." Getting up, he threw his glass out onto the lawn. "Let's find some flashlights, this shit is over. I'm going to go save Bill and his family. I want my wives back!"

.

The vent Zhena had crawled into was tight, but Eddie wiggled and grunted his way in. Zhena closed the vent behind them.

Standing alone in the dark hanger was Wolverine. Everything was dark, not even marker lights were on. Eddie went into the ship with Zhena. From what he could see, nothing was removed. He got under the console and checked the power breakers, they had been

turned off. He flipped the console breaker on and the one for the ships computers. The control panels and the electronics station lit up.

Eddie crawled out from under the console and said, "Zhena, show me the collision point."

Zhena sat down at the electronics station. Once the computers booted up, she brought up the New Home system and it's track through space. "The event happened 642 standard days ago, this point right here," she explained. The system moved and the planets shifted. "Here is where the system was at the time of the event." Other vectors and lines showed up on the screen. "Here is the incoming path of the asteroid, it was a rouge that came into the system. Here is the path of the ship Crown Princess Chika was on. If you look, they were nearly 90 degrees apart. By the debris, the asteroid hit the ship square in the side, which made it buckle and crack before a hole was blown through it. That's the only explanation of how no large pieces of debris were found. Tracking the asteroid's

path back, this is the 95 percent line for four days prior to the collision. Which means this path is 95% accurate. If we can be in that path and intercept the asteroid, we can steer it and change it's trajectory so it will never hit that ship."

"I like it," Eddie told her. "So we only have to go what, 700 days back in time to meet it?"

"We aim for that, yes. And once we go back, we have to verify when we are and interact with no one. Getting our current date and position will be difficult under those circumstances. If we're too late, it's a wasted trip. If we're too early, we will have to spend our time hiding until we can rendezvous with that asteroid at the proper place and speed."

Eddie nodded. "So aim for a little earlier then?" he asked.

"And have a place to stay until we reach the right time," Zhena replied.

"Then, that's what we do," Eddie stated.

"Do we tell Suzanne or Diane about this?" Zhena asked.

"No. We can't afford to let either of them try to stop us.. Check supplies, I'll check the fuel and functions. I'm going, even if I have to go myself."

Zhena put a clawed hand on his shoulder. "Eddie, no matter what, I will go with you. I want to see our Suzanne and Diane return to who they should be also."

"Thank you, Zhena."

.

Sent back with the security detail ahead of Princes Suzanne, Polimare had to make sure everything was perfect with their home. The security detail checked the security videos and guards, Polimare went with the scanning teams through their rooms to ensure no bugs or bombs were planted. Going though the house, she did note something odd. She couldn't find Zhena and Eddie. The only clue she got was a glass in the lawn near the back patio.

Concerned, Polimare had the grounds checked and the garage. All the cars were there, and a search of the ground didn't turn up Eddie or Zhena. Looking outside herself, Polimare was becoming worried that something had happened to them. A look around the

hanger showed it was still locked down. Heading over to the pond by the golf course, Polimare heard something and saw ripples in the water. Running over, she found Eddie's clothes on the bank. Eddie himself popped up and swam to shore. Zhena's head appeared in the reeds.

"Hey, Polimare, what's up?" Eddie asked.

Polimare let out a worried breath. "Since when do you swim in the pond?" she asked. "There is a pool by the house!"

"But no livestock," Eddie explained as he waded out. He waved to Zhena and said, "Zhena wanted some fresh fish. I dove in to stir them up so she could catch them easier. What's the big deal?"

Polimare went over and picked up his clothes. She let him put his shorts back on, that was it. "You need to dry off before you put anything else on," she scolded.

Zhena got out and walked up to Eddie. "Thank you Eddie, that was fun."

"Yeah, it was," he beamed back at her.

Polimare stomped back to the house ahead of them. Eddie winked at Zhena. That has been close. Luckily, they saw the security people before any of them saw him and Zhena coming out of the hanger. The pond was nearby, and the perfect innocent excuse

for being out here.

Partway back, Polimare stopped and waited for Eddie. Frowning at him, she said, "There could be dangerous animals in that pond, or some weird disease! I do not want to have to explain to the Princess that you got sick or injured!"

"Then don't," Eddie replied. "I did it, let me explain myself."

"But she will yell at me for it!"

"Then I will yell at her for yelling at you. Sound fair?" Eddie asked.

"Eddie, we have responsibilities, please act like it!" Polimare yelled.

Eddie cast her a fake grin. "Sorry. It won't happen again …. today."

"Arghhh!" Polimare growled and stomped on her way.

Yup, even that innocent green girl had changed. Their family was in the toilet, not matter how he looked at it.

Eddie glanced at Zhena. "Looks like it's just us," he said.

"Then it is. I have a list of thing we'll need," Zhena told him. "If you can keep them occupied at dinner time, I'll sneak some supplies down into the ship. They won't miss me. Any more, I'm not sure if they know I'm here or not. That's all we need, right?"

"Yeah, we're set otherwise. How much stuff do we need?" Eddie asked, making sure no one else was nearby.

"There is three weeks of food on board. Not knowing how long we'll be, I think we should bring a full six month load."

"Can't sneak that much out of the pantry," Eddie said in a musing tone. "Even getting it down to the ship is going to be troublesome. What if we stock up after we leave?"

Zhena eyed him. "How? Anywhere we go, the Wolverine is well known to be Suzanne's ship. We'll be spotted immediately."

Eddie thought about it and said, "Maybe we can get that to work for us. Can you look up where Nova and Alex are? If they are still in a squadron, maybe we can sneak in and ask them to help us."

"I'll look them up. Eddie, if we're caught, it could be bad."

"I know. If you want, just give me the info I need."

"No. I'm going with you no matter what. I told you that."

"And I'm thankful for it."

.

Going back inside, Eddie had another idea. Since Suzanne was the crown Princess, they had pretty much an open spending account. Going up to his room, he got on his computer and looked at bulk food stores. Instead of prices, he checked locations. He wanted one with a big parking lot in the back and as remote as he could find one. Searching, he did find a camping supplies store in the middle of Pennsylvania. It was near a state park and part of a gas station / restaurant / mini-motel business. In the back was a big dirt lot. He called them.

"Ike's sporting goods."

"Yes, I wanted to ask about prepackaged food for a large group. Say enough for twenty people for two months. We got a big meet coming up and I need to supply the food and beverages."

"That's a ton of food! Yeah, we got that in stock, barely. When ya need it?"

"In two days."

"Shit, mister! You guys need to plan better! All right, I'll mark off the stock, but I need to be sure you're on the level. Got a card number?"

Eddie had a card 'in case he needed it'. He read off the card number, security code and the expiration date.

The man said, "All right, it's yours. You bringing a truck?"

"A ship. OK if I park in the lot out back?"

"Sure. I'll put up traffic cones to be sure it stays empty. See you in two days then?"

"You got it, thanks, see you then."

Eddie sat back, they had the food they would need.

"Where are you going?"

Eddie turned to see a green head peeking up from his bed. Right, Polimare. Oh boy. He got up and went over to see she was under the covers. He sat down by her. "If I tell you to keep quiet about it, will you?" he asked.

"It depends," she said slowly. "You're not leaving Suzanne, are you?"

"No. I'm going to try and save her and Diane," he said honestly.

"What do you mean?" she asked and sat up, showing she had nothing on.

"I can't tell you specifics. I'm sure you've realized by now that both Suzanne and Diane are miserable, they are making you miserable, me and Zhena. If I don't do something … I'm afraid of losing my family. I can't let that happen."

Casting him a weak smile, she said, "I'll sill be your family." She held a hand out to him.

Irritated at her, Eddie said, "Polimare, sex isn't going to fix this. I do know what will. In case you haven't noticed, we're falling apart!" He got up and turned to her. "If you care anything at all about any of us, keep your mouth shut. If Suzanne asks, you know nothing, you heard nothing, you SAW nothing. Can you do that?"

"What are you going to do?" she asked in a plea.

"What I must. Swear to me you'll keep quiet, or I have to leave right now, ready or not." he said firmly.

Polimare looked at him blankly for a moment, then said, "Take me with you."

"Do you swear?"

"Yes! I won't say a word if you take me with you," she said firmly.

"Do you remember how to pilot Wolverine?"

Polimare's jaw dropped. "You're going to steal Wolverine?" she asked in a squeak.

"Do you?"

"Yes, I remember."

"Then don't go very far away, and say nothing."

"We're running away?" Polimare asked.

"No. It's going to be dangerous and most likely everyone will be looking for us," Eddie explained. We will have zero support, and we'll need to hide from everyone until we get back."

Polimare's face turned stonic. She got up and cupped his face. "Nothing has changed between us. You say it's dangerous, I don't care. If you decide I have to die, I will. I serve Suzanne for you. I am more than willing to go into danger for you."

"We'll be taking a trip through that black hole," Eddie stated. He knew she was afraid of that thing.

Polimare swallowed. "Fine then, I will pilot us through it if you need me too."

He saw she was serious. "OK, then. Just remember, not a word to anyone. So far, the only other one who knows is Zhena."

"Do we have some time to relax?" she asked and glanced at the bed.

"Not yet, I have to talk to Zhena. You can wait here if you want."

Polimare nodded and got back in bed. "Just wake me up when you come in," she said.

.

Eddie found Zhena. Nova and her crew were out on a safety and training patrol around Caprica. Too far away to help. Figured. He told Zhena he had a food stock source. If they left early morning, like one AM after Suzanne and Diane got home, they could leave under low power and high stealth and be at the store when it opened.

That night he and Zhena planned their trip. When they Folded, it was going to attract attention. Leaving Earth, it would be too late for anyone to stop them. Getting to the other end near the Hot Sands system, there could be ships everywhere to pick them up, so they decided to Fold closer to the Black Hole, and off normally traveled routes, then sneak in and make their slingshot. A check of when they came out, and they would Fold towards the A edge of the Galaxy to arrive near the New Home system and go from there. Hopefully, they arrived within a month or two of the event, and slip into place to intercept that asteroid four or five days before the collision.

.

Morning came with more security and four heavily armored limousines. Eddie cleaned up and even shaved and put on a nice sweater vest combo. Polimare also put on a nice dress even though she wasn't happy he never woke her up, or seemed to come to bed at all.

As per protocol, Eddie was there with Polimare and Zhena at the head of the dual line of security and servants to greet Suzanne and Diane when they came in. As always as of late, Security opened the doors and Suzanne came in, Diane slightly behind her and as far apart as the hallway and lines of servants allowed. Bearing stonic faces with tiny pasted on smiles, they greeted everyone up the line with a nod of their heads.

It was hell for Eddie to hold his own pretend smile, seeing them like this. Any appearance of joy or happiness had been drained out of both of them. Their eyes held vacant looks.

Coming to Eddie, Suzanne hugged him and gave a short kiss on the lips.

"It will get better, trust me," he offered. He got an attempt as a smile in return. This close, he note Suzanne was looking old beyond her years.

Diane as just as emotionless with her hug and quick kiss. He told her it will get better. She didn't seem to hear him.

Eddie followed them into the sitting room. Of course they weren't alone, security men stood by the windows, a bookend pair at the entrance doors and more wandered around everywhere.

"Polimare, drinks please," Suzanne said tonelessly. Polimare left.

Although at the same table, Diane and Suzanne were at separate ends. Two chairs on each side between them. Eddie split the difference, dragging one chair to the middle. "So, how was your trip? By your looks, it was boring as hell," he offered.

For a brief instant, he got a real smile from Suzanne. "It was informative," she said.

"Oh, so very boring then?" he asked Diane.

Diane let out a snort and a flicker of a smile. "It was our duty," she said dryly.

"Ah. Well, I went fishing with Zhena yesterday in the pond. Zhena got in first, then I did a belly flop into the water at the other end to scare the fish over to her," he said with a grin.

Something like that would have normally got them both laughing at one time. Suzanne offered, "Inventive." Diane just gazed out the windows.

Damn, this was tough. "Anything interesting happen?" he asked.

Suzanne sat up and announced, "We're moving back to Queen Lucy's palace in a few days. There is instruction we need to take. It will take most of our time, so it is better if we are living there."

"Yeah, gotta stay close to the queen," Diane said tonelessly.

"The pond there is shallow and has koi carp, so no fishing," Suzanne offered.

Although she didn't smile, Eddie did to try in vain to lift her spirits. "Well Zhena won't be pleased, but at least I won't be bouncing off the bottom."

Another tiny almost smile.

Polimare came in with a tray of drinks and distributed them. She then took her place to stand behind Suzanne.

The more Eddie sat here with his two miserable wives, the more he was convinced he had to go save Bill and Chika to save the women he loved. This princess stuff was slowly killing them and driving them apart.

.

After a frustrating attempt to get some life out of his wives, Eddie was relieved they needed to go settle into their rooms. Separate rooms for each of them. Luckily, Polimare followed Suzanne around as normal and didn't say a word about what Eddie had planned. Dinner time was just as stiff, Suzanne at one end of the long table, Eddie at the other end - as per royal protocol, and Diane by Suzanne. Eddie wanted so bad to break protocol and throw a roll at them to get their attention. If he misbehaved now, he was afraid they might think something was up, or Suzanne would lecture him again on proper behavior.

Tired from the day, both his wives turned in early, which Eddie was thankful for. The night guard was reduced to the property perimeter and entryways. Zhena's room was on the first floor, her window was shielded by plants and vines enough that they could slip out. Once Eddie was sure everyone was settled for the night, he went down, collected Polimare and slipped into Zhena's room. They opened the window and helped each other out. Eddie knew where the cameras were and got them away from the house and out to the hanger.

.

Diane was so sick of this acting like royalty, she wanted to scream. Yes, she knew Suzanne had to do it, but instead of the calm, biting remarks back and forth now and then, she wanted a real battle with destroying furniture and walls and saying to hell with formalities! Mind hands flaying and smashing every friggin 'expensive' statue off it's pedestal. She didn't care if it was 'improper', tonight when everyone settled down, she snuck out of her room to go find Eddie.

Diane got to Eddie's room and let herself in. Eddie wasn't in bed. He wasn't anywhere in the room. Fuckin GREAT! Where did he go?

Going over to the window, Diane stared out with a heave frown. Was he down banging Polimare because she and Suzanne were being so bitchy? She then noticed movement on the ground in the dark. Three figures, one was the long shape of Zhena, were creeping towards the hanger.

Racing down to Zhena's room, she went into find the window open. She went out and followed the trio, low to the ground to see what was up.

.

Eddie helped Polimare get through the vent. They got aboard Wolverine and turned on the interior lights. Zhena got at her station and programmed in their flight path. Eddie got Polimare in the pilot's seat and gave her a quick refresher on the controls.

"Now remember, we're going to be in stealth the whole time. No active radar pulses out, no running lights, and use only minimal thrust," Eddie stressed. "It's dark so use infrared visual, and do not go above 300 feet, and follow the path Zhena laid in. We do not want to be above any populated areas."

"OK," Polimare said nervously.

"Eddie, I got the entry vectors laid in," Zhena announced. "All calculations show we'll be moving back in time 725 days, plus or minus 50. That's as close as I can get."

By the hatch, Diane asked, "Where are you going?"

Eddie turned to see Diane in her nightgown, staring at them. He straightened up and faced her. "Diane, hon, we're going to save Bill and Chika from that asteroid. Zhena found where the impact was, and has the path of the asteroid." Stepping closer, he added, "It's best if you don't go, and because we might fail, Suzanne can't know about it. I don't know about you, but I am sick and tired of this …. Royal treatment. I'm losing you and Suzanne, and I can't take it any more. We know where and when the collision occurs, so we're going to stop it. Please, don't try to stop us."

Diane's lips quivered then she flung her arm around Eddie and burst out crying. Eddie reveled in hold her tight. He even reveled in her tears. Diane was showing real emotion.

In a choking sob, she said, "I'm going too! I'd rather die than keep doing this shit!" Glancing over at Polimare, she said, "Get out of my seat! I'M DRIVING!"

Diane then pulled back enough to give Eddie a deep kiss. Their lips smacked as she pulled back. "Let me cut the roof away, there are sensors up there I need to disable so no alarms go off. Got a flashlight?"

Eddie handed her his.

Diane wiped her nose and face. "Don't leave without me!" she said and flew out the hatch.

Eddie laughed with joy. Diane was finally acting like herself.

.

It wasn't until 1:45 in the morning before Diane had enough roof cut away for them to lift off straight up. The moment she was in, Eddie was at the command console, Polimare in the middle with passive sensors and Diane was in her driver's seat. She lifted off slow and easy under full stealth. Rising up to 250 feet, she cleared the compound and they headed off for the sporting goods store.

Luckily, they still had clothes on board. Eddie took the sensors as Polimare went in the back and got Diane a flight uniform. On a straight stretch over woodland, Eddie took the flight controls as Diane quickly flung her nightgown off and got her flight suit on.

"Haven't seen those in a while," Eddie grinned, admiring her breasts.

"Soon as we get a chance, you'll have a real close look at them," Diane promised and hopped back in her seat.

The sun was just coming up when they landed in the back lot of the store. Eddie had Polimare and Zhena reshuffle the supply locker, as he went to the store with Diane. They walked hand in hand.

"You know, Suzanne's gonna go nuts when she finds out we're gone and Wolverine isn't in the hanger," Diane said with a grin.

"Yeah, she will," Eddie agreed with a sigh. "If we can pull this off, it won't matter. She has to stay behind in case we don't."

"There's going to be an all out search for us."

"Yup. We're officially pirates now," Eddie agreed.

"Aye matey!" Diane replied with a wide grin.

The store was just opening when they went in. Eddie told the man who he was. The man led them back to the store room to show them the MRE's that were still on pallets.

"It's gonna take you a while to load those," the man told them.

"No problem," Dane replied. "Eddie get the door."

Eddie opened the set of double doors. Diane lifted two pallets and floated them out.

It took a couple hours to move the food off the pallets and stored onto the ship. Finishing around eight, They lifted off to receive a message on fleet frequency. "Space Tank 201, come in."

"Don't answer it," Eddie said.

"Space Tank 201, come in. Report back to base immediately."

"Fat chance," Diane said.

"Space Tank 201, you are AWOL, if you do not answer, you will be considered pirate."

"Yo hoo-hoo and a bottle of rum," Eddie said.

"Leaving orbit," Diane announced.

"Radar's pinging hard on all frequencies, multiple sources," Polimare reported.

"Diane, approaching Fold point," Zhena reported.

"I got the coordinates locked in. Ready to Fold … Folding."

.

In her night gown, Suzanne paced in her office. Getting up, she'd noticed she couldn't feel Diane's presence. She called for Polimare, she was gone also. Eddie was also missing, as was Zhena. While she was trying to find them, security called in and reported the roof had been ripped off the hanger. They checked and Wolverine was gone.

Suzanne learned the UN space command was looking hard for Wolverine. They had sent out a command for it to return. There was no reply. Suzanne was beside herself that her family would pull such a stunt! What were they doing?

One of the security men came in with a paper of scribbled lines and numbers. "Princess, we found this in Mr. Warren's room on his desk."

"Let me see." Suzanne took the paper. Looking at it, she recognized it as figures for a Fold vector next to a black hole. Her heart nearly seized. "What are they doing?" she cried.

"You know what that is, Princess?" he asked.

Suzanne looked at the calculations. It was for a trip back in time 700 to 750 days. Why go back then? As she thought about it, there was one event that was very significant at that time period. It was what made her the Crown Princess. The death of Chika when that Transport was hit by an asteroid, nearly 700 days ago.

"No," she moaned out. Diane and Eddie, her family was going to try to stop it. "So many things could go wrong!" she cried. "They could land in another universe! They could hit something near the black hole before they Folded," she cried.

Fear settled into the pit of Suzanne's stomach. Eddie, Diane, Zhena and even Poliare were risking their lives to save Bill and Chika's family. So she didn't have to be the Crown Princess. Everyone she loved had stolen Wolverine and gone on this very risky, nearly suicidal mission.

Why had they left her behind?

Even as she thought that, she knew. In the last months, it had been pounded into all of them that her safety was critical to the known universe. Whatever happened to them, even if they never made it back, she would live. Suzanne went to sit and missed the chair. Her family, the very ones she had treated badly because they needed to learn how to be regal, had gone off on a mission she should have had the guts to tell Lucy she was going to lead, and damn the consequences. Staring at nothing, she realized how badly she had failed her family. Sitting on the floor, Suzanne broke down and cried.


	2. Chapter 2

Ch 2

Drifting 20 light years away from the Hot Sands system, Polimare scrutinized her panels for signals of any other craft while Zhena, Diane and Eddie studied the energy coming from the black hole.

"It hasn't moved much, the axis and tilt is the same," Eddie noted.

"Right, and the equator is in the same place. I'm also not detecting any ships nearby," Zhena added.

"Fold to line up with our entry vector, then Fold close before we go through?" Diane asked.

"That's the plan. Zhena said. "We circle around it with two folds, then close with the third. If there are monitoring ships, by the time they detect out first Fold, we'll be Folding into the black hole. Coming out, we should be heading back towards Hot Sands and can Fold fast again to get out of the area before anyone can even hail us."

"Let's do it!" Diane said.

Their Folds, to and even through the black hole went smoothly. Too smoothly, Eddie thought something had to go wrong. "Zhena, we on track?" he asked.

Zhena studied their position and replied, "From the position of natural objects, we are close, 700 to 800 days in the past."

"Yes! Fold for New home?" Diane asked.

"For New home system yes, but add at least a couple light years towards the 'A' edge of the galaxy," Eddie agreed. "We don't want to be noticed."

"Close enough to receive communications, but far enough away where we won't be picked up." Zhena said. "Diane, sending you the Fold Vector."

"OK, got it. Folding."

They Folded again. Upon completion, Eddie opened all the radio channels and listened.

Nothing.

"Eddie, I'm got getting any nav beacons," Diane said.

"No radar either," Zhena added.

"Maybe we're too far out?" Eddie guessed.

"I'll move us closer," Diane said. She aimed the ship at the New Home system and moved towards it.

"Zhena, recheck our arrival date." Eddie said as he continued to find nothing on any comms.

Zhena did her rechecking. Diane put on a bit more speed.

"We're not picking up anything from the New Home system," Diane stated.

Zhena let out a growly hiss. "We are in the right place, time wise, but there is nothing in the New Home system!"

"OK, maybe we Folded into another universe," Eddie offered. "We hit the black hole dead on the equator, didn't we?"

"Yes ... wait..." Zhena said correcting herself. "I see, we were .05 degrees off, we crossed the equator south to north."

"Then we go back and cross it north to south by .05 degrees," Eddie said.

Zhena grumbled. "I'll open our distance so hopefully, we won't jump ahead in time. We are at the right place in time."

"Setting in a heading for the black hole," Diane said with a huff. "Hope we don't have to do this too many times."

Once again they traveled back to the black hole. Zhena took extra time to line them up, they the Folder past the black hole again. Upon coming out of the Fold, Eddie didn't notice anything different.

"I got a radar pulse from 264,121," Polimare announced.

"We have nav beacons," Diane reported.

"Eddie, we are in the right place, 765 days in our past," Zhena reported happily.

"Great, get us to New Home, .25 light years out."

".25 towards the 'A' edge?"

"Yup!"

They did their folds and found they were in the New Home system right when they needed to be. Looking at the farthest reliable track of the asteroid they were after, they positioned themselves to catch it coming inbound. Now, all that was left to do was find it, grab it, and push it out of the way.

Getting their drift set to march the speed of the system, Wolverine was parked in place to intercept the asteroid. Diane let Polimare take the piloting controls and got up. She grabbed Eddie and said, "Come, there's something I want to show you."

Seeing her grin, Eddie grew his own big grin. They went in the back and shut the rear isolation door to the bedding area.

Polimare grinned to herself. "Have fun guys," she said quietly.

.

Still sitting on the floor where she'd landed, Suzanne stared at the floor in front of her. She'd cried herself out hours ago. Now and then, the security Chief came in to try to get her up. She stayed in place. There was no point in getting up. She'd driven her family away. She knew what they were doing, something she should have done herself, months ago. Diane had been upset they hadn't gone to try to save Dad due to 'possible' problems and the fact Suzanne could be put in danger. She should have listened to Diane. Eddie had done his best to try to keep them cheerful and together. She had ignored him as well. Even to the point of driving him to Polimare by following the 'separate bedrooms' protocol that Lucy had insisted on. Each noble had to have their own bedroom. She should have never agreed to that!

A shape got Suzanne's attention to the side. "Princess, Queen Lucy is on the phone for you," her Security Chief said.

Wonderful, more instruction from Lucy. "I don't care," she said weakly.

"Princess, the Queen insists on speaking with you," he said firmly.

Something snapped on Suzanne. Casting a glare at the phone, she pulled it out of his hand with a mind hand, raised it to the ceiling and rocketed it into the floor, smashing it into tiny pieces. "I DON'T FUCKING CARE!" she screamed then glared at the man.

He turned and walked quickly out. On her feet now, Suzanne stared at the impact point that showed a crack in the floor she'd driven the phone into. Diane had done the right thing. She so badly wanted to go help them, but it was too late. She had listened to everything Lucy told her and played 'crown princess' a bit too long, and now her family was gone. She had let them down.

"I don't deserve to be ... anything," Suzanne admitted to herself. She had let her loved ones down.

Wandering towards her room, her Security Chief once again tried to get her attention from 20 feet away. "Princess? A ship matching Wolverine's description was seen this morning in Pennsylvania. They stopped to load up with food and took off. UNSC tried to contact it, and got no response. The ship is now considered pirate."

Suzanne spun on him. He took a step back. "Why?"

"Unauthorized launch and refusing to answer a lawful order of recall," he explained.

By proper protocol, Suzanne knew he was right. Still she had to do something for her family. "That is incorrect," she stated. "I sent them on a mission and ordered them not to respond."

"I will have to verify…."

"You need to verify nothing!" Suzanne snapped. "You tell the Admiralty AND Queen Lucy I sent them on a mission. If anyone has a problem with it, they can come talk to me!"

"Yes, Princess," he said with a bow and walked away.

Suzanne headed for her room to get dressed. If she wasn't able do anything else for her loved ones, at least she could take the heat for them.

.

It wasn't long before that heat came. Three Admirals and a Lawyer came to visit Suzanne as she was being packed up to leave. Since this was an official visit, Suzanne showed them to her office. Sitting at her desk, hands folded in front of her, she asked, "What can I do for you gentlemen?"

"Princess, did you order LRSAV 201 to go on a mission?" the older Admiral asked.

"That is correct. I also ordered them to maintain radio silence until their objective is complete." Suzanne replied.

"You are aware only UNSC personnel can give orders to active military craft?"

Suzanne eyed him. "Am I, or am I not a Fleet Admiral?"

The man shifted in place. "You are. Such orders are usually brought to the supreme commander for approval."

"Which is Queen Lucy, correct?" Suzanne asked.

"It is. We have been told nothing."

"This was a special mission. You did not need to know," Suzanne replied.

"We intend to ask Her Majesty what she knows about this … mission," he said firmly.

"Then do so. It is up to her Majesty if she wants to tell you or not," Suzanne replied firmly.

"I see. We shall request an audience with her Majesty to verify the validity of this mission. Until then, if LSRAV 201 is found, it is to be disable and boarded and the crew detained."

"No, it will not be," Suzanne told him. "I have informed you that they are on a mission, and are doing as ordered. If you do not like it, you deal with myself and her Majesty. Or do you harass crews for doing as they are told?"

Suzanne saw the man's jaw tightened. "Very well, we will be speaking with Her majesty in a few days."

"Yes, we will," Suzanne agreed.

Suzanne maintained her bearing and offered the men refreshments. They declined, stating workload. Once they left, she found Eddie's notes, tore them up and trashed them. Right after lunch, the limos arrived for her. She wasn't surprised to see Lady Himari waiting for her in the limo.

"Hi Mom," Suzanne said. They shared a brief hug. Lady Himari raised the privacy screen behind the driver.

"It's good to see you Suzanne. Now tell me what's up with your family and Wolverine?"

Suzanne sagged in place. At least she could talk to her mother honestly. "Eddie, Diane, Polimare and Zhena have gone on a very important mission. I have authorized it, but didn't tell anyone."

Lady Himari eyed her daughter with a critical eye. "You sent them on a mission, but didn't go yourself? I find that very hard to believe."

"That is the only thing I can say."

Lady Himari gave a nod. "To protect them."

Suzanne found she couldn't meet Himari's gaze. "If anyone is at fault, it is me, Mom. It has to be me."

"Now that you told me the official story that I know you will stick to, tell me what really happened."

Suzanne shifted in place. "Mom, that is the only thing I can say."

"I understand," Himari said, then added, "Eddie found out where the asteroid impacted the transport that Bill's family was on. They sneaked out, powered up Wolverine and took off to go back in time to save them. They couldn't let you know, because if they fail, we still need you as the Crown Princess."

Suzanne cast her a surprised look. "You know?"

Himari grinned. "I do now. I also know you, Diane, and Eddie. The only thing that puzzles me is why they took so long."

"Eddie just figured out the where and when recently. Are you going to tell anyone?"

"No, dear. You are." Himari explained. "When Wolverine came up missing, you don't know the havoc it caused. Lucy was terrified you led your crew out to go do just what you told me." Putting a hand over Suzanne's, she said, "Tell Lucy the truth. We both know you have not been having a good time and Diane has been downright miserable as has Eddie. She will understand. She may not be happy, but she'll know why they had to try, and why you have to cover for them. She will also be very relieved you didn't take off with them."

"So, I'm not in trouble then?"

Himari shook her head. "I didn't say that. I said if you tell the truth, then Lucy will understand. Whatever happens, as long as you are truthful with Lucy, it will go much better for you."

"Yeah, it will," Suzanne agreed. She knew Mama Lucy did not like to get lied to. She also knew something else. "Mom, I really don't care what happens to me. I just want my family back."

Himari offered Suzanne a smile. "Yes, I'd like all our family to return safely. Right now, all we can do is pray and wait."

Suzanne relaxed and leaned into her mother. "Thanks for understanding."

.

Getting to Lucy's palace, Suzanne braced herself. She knew Lucy wasn't going to be as kind to her as Himari was. The surprise she got was Lucy wasn't there at the entrance to greet them. Papa Kouta was. He greeted Suzanne with a hug and guided her to Lucy's chambers. He opened the door and stood aside to motion her in.

Suzanne went in and the door shut behind her. Right, this was a private meeting. She saw Lucy sitting by the fireplace, staring into the fire.

"Come sit."

The short, crisp words told Suzanne she was in trouble. She went over and took the chair beside Lucy. "If I have made you angry, I am sorry," Suzanne offered. "If I may explain…"

"No need," Lucy said curtly. "The reason your ship was put into permanent maintenance was to keep you from attempting to save Chika and her family. The last time you went flying through a black hole, you were gone nearly five years. By your own admission, it was only through luck and help from others that you made it back at all. You do know how dangerous it is to fly so close to one of those things."

"I am very well aware, yes, Mama Lucy," Suzanne replied.

"I got information that you ordered your crew to go. Is that true?"

Suzanne played with her fingers. Looking down she said, "That is my official statement, no matter what happens to me. Through investigating astronomical data and the paths of debris, it was discovered where and when the collision occurred that destroyed Daddy and Chika's transport. Eddie and Diane had the … guts to go try and save them. They knew I couldn't go with them so they left without me. Honestly, I should have been the one to lead them. It was my responsibility and I failed. The only thing I can do now is tell everyone I sent them, so if they do return, then no blame will be placed on them."

"You responsibility is to take my place when I'm gone," Lucy said firmly.

Suzanne bit back from telling her at the moment, being the crown Princess didn't matter to her at all. If she couldn't watch out for her family, how could she possibly watch out for the known universe?

"We have no idea what changing the past will do," Lucy stated. "It could be beneficial, and it might bring a disaster we can't foresee. Or even know that changing history caused it. Suzanne, what you must always keep in mind is you will someday take my place. You are the only one left that I feel can be a proper Queen. You are also very highly respected by many worlds. The fact you did not go on this mission has saved us all."

Lucy then glanced at her. "It appears that you being an Admiral and Crown Princess is causing problems. I can appreciate why you are taking responsibility. In fact, I'd be disappointed if you didn't. I will let your decision to send your crew on their mission stand. However, I am also going to move you into a retired status, so you cannot give any future orders to any military personnel or operate any military vessel. Upon their return, The same will apply to Eddie and Diane. They will be retired. The three of you are too well respected to just strip you of your ranks."

"Thank you, my Queen," Suzanne said in a humble tone.

"All things considered, it is the only correct action I can take. I hope they succeed. If you would please, Allow Kouta and Himari to come in."

.

They had 118 days before the asteroid was due. The first two weeks of waiting wasn't bad. Eddie and Diane made up for their lost 'alone' time. Zhena was sure Diane was trying to get pregnant. They even allowed Polimare to join them once in a while, which put a big smile on the green girl's face.

Keeping track of comms to ensure they had the proper dates, they sat on the path of the asteroid was going to come in at four days before it hit that transport. They all agreed that would give them time to catch it and move it away from the transport's path.

On the third week, Diane was getting ansy. Taking her turn at the controls, she asked, "Eddie? We still got a couple months to go here, right? Can't we buzz off to Earth and warn Dad and Chika not to be on that transport?"

In the kitchenette, Eddie looked up. "I haven't thought of that. Even delaying it's departure would save it, right?"

"It should," Diane agreed. "It will be great to see them again."

"Think they will be at Queen Lucy's place, or the one we left from?" Eddie asked.

Diane shrugged. "We'll find out after we get back."

"Want something while I'm right here?"

"Naw, not hungry right now. So, you think we should go to Earth and warn them?"

Eddie frowned slightly. "Well, in this time, we're still out in some other universe, so there's no chance of us running into ourselves. Still, we'd have to explain why we're there and where Suzanne is. Plus, we need to know where they are."

"We could find out," Diane offered.

"Hey! How about this!" Eddie asked. "We know the track of that asteroid, we send it's projected path to Earth flight control to let them know when that asteroid is coming through the New Home system, and they can re-route traffic around it. We won't even have to land."

Diane nodded. "I like it, and we won't have to sit out here for the next couple months doing nothing."

"Then as soon as Polimare and Zhena get up, we'll take off."

Excited about the prospect of completing their mission early, Diane and Eddie told Zhena about their plans as she and Polimare had breakfast. With the meal done and things cleaned up, they Folded to Earth. Zhena made the transmission to Earth flight control about finding an asteroid and sending it's projected path through the New Home system, they waited for confirmation.

No reply came.

"Did we transmit?" Eddie asked.

"We did. I'll send it again," Zhena told him.

Eddie listened to the satellite repeater. He heard Zhena transmit, but the repeater didn't pick it up. "That's odd," he noted. "The satellite didn't relay it. It seems to be relaying everything else."

"It did go out," Zhena said.

"It did," Eddie agreed. "What's up with that?"

"We're well within range," Diane offered.

Zhena tested the transmitter. "Earth flight control, military ship 201, testing transmitter."

The reply came back. "201, this is Earth flight control. Read you loud and clear."

"Earth flight control, 201, we have important astrological data we need to relay about an asteroid path in the New Home system."

"Send your information, 201."

"Sending," Zhena said and sent the information again.

"201, flight control is ready to receive. Send your information."

"Sending," Zhena radioed, then send it a third time. After she asked, "Did you receive?"

"Negative, 201. There must be a problem with your transmitter. We read your voice comms, but the message did not come through."

"What the hell?" Diane asked.

A weak, "Oh no," came from Polimare.

"Zhena, just tell them," Eddie coaxed.

Zhena nodded. "Earth flight control, The asteroid will be entering at a thirty degree angle from the ecliptic from the 'A' edge of the galaxy, 164 degrees from Galactic center and traveling approximately 34,000 miles per hour…"

"201, you are breaking up. Strongly recommend you land and give your report in person."

"Our transmitter is failing?" Zhena asked over the air.

"We can read you just now. It is becoming unreliable. Land and report."

Eddie nodded.

"Earth Flight control, 201, we will begin our descent," Zhena radioed.

"201, follow landing beacon on 245.7GHZ."

"201 understood."

"I'm taking her down," Diane said.

Eddie puzzled over the radio failure. Zhena checked the equipment. Coming down into the upper atmosphere they suddenly Folded back up into orbit. To Eddie, it felt like he blinked.

"What the hell was that?" Diane asked. "We're going down then we just popped back up to where we started."

Meekly, Polimare said, "Guys? I think we got a big problem."

"Yeah, the transmitter's acting screwy and the ship just pops back into orbit by itself!" Diane replied.

"You don't understand," Polimare said in a stressed tone. "Why did we come on this mission? To stop that transport from being destroyed, right?"

"And?" Eddie prodded.

"So if we keep it from being destroyed, then in the future, there is no reason to come back in time, is there?"

They all stared at Polimare. Polimare kept on. "The reason we're here is that transport was destroyed and Suzanne got promoted to Crown Princess. If the transport arrives at New Home, then none of that will happen to us, and we'll never be out here to begin with!"

"She's right," Eddie whispered.

"SHIT!" Diane spat. "You're saying we can't change the past."

"OK, hold on," Eddie said. "This is the reverse of, you can't go back in time to kill your father when he's young, because you'll never be born."

"Yes." Polimare said firmly.

"So even if we warn Bill and Chika, then we won't have any reason to come back in time either."

"That's right," Zhena said.

"Then, what in the hell do we do?" Diane cried with a flail of her arm.

Eddie rubbed his chin absently, then said, "Diane, take us back to New Home where we were, we have to think about this."

"Sending Fold vector," Zhena said.

Diane shook her head in disbelief. "There has to be something we can do. Folding in three…"

Polimare hugged Eddie from behind. "I'm so sorry, but we can't stop that collision. If we have no reason to come back in time, we won't be here."

"No," Eddie said weakly. "I refuse to accept that. I refuse to accept my wives are going to spend the rest of their lives miserable! I refuse to accept that Bill and Chika are going to die, no matter what we do. This is the most powerful warship for it's size anywhere! There has GOT to be an answer!"


	3. Chapter 3

Ch 3

Eddie sat in the command seat on the left and thought hard. They could not change history and save the transport because if they saved the transport, then there would be no reason for them to come back into the past. That was Ploimare's theory, and it appeared to be right. They couldn't do anything to alter that event.

"We've wasted a trip, haven't we?" Diane asked sadly from the pilot's seat.

"NO, we'll figure it out," Eddie insisted.

Zhena shook her head. "Eddie, we can't even give them information. Every time I sent the trajectory of the asteroid, the information did not get to them even though there isn't anything wrong with our transmitter. It worked fine until I tried to sent them the data. Look at what happened when we tried to land. We got displaced back up into orbit. We cannot do anything to save that transport."

"That was real freaky," Diane said with a snort. "We just popped back up into orbit like we'd never even entered the atmosphere to begin with."

"Track the asteroid back and shoot it with a rail gun?" Eddie wondered aloud.

"That would be a good frustration release. Turn that thing into interstellar dust. Let's give it a try," Diane said.

"The certainty path becomes weaker the farther back on the asteroid's path we go," Zhena told them. "The 95% certainty path only goes back 124 hours, flight time. The farther back we go after that, the more uncertain we become. At 150 hours, the certainty of it's path is only 89%."

"But if we find an asteroid floating along in space along or very near that path, on the same trajectory, then that will be it, right?" Eddie asked.

"What are you thinking, Eddie?" Polimare asked.

"I'm thinking we have the time to theorize ideas, but only five days at the max to carry them out. When the time comes I want to have as many theories as possible. If one does nothing, we try the next and the next, right up to ramming that thing."

"Eddie, that won't work," Polimare told him. "We cannot stop that transport from being destroyed."

"Why? Because that's the reason we're here? We alter history, then we don't come, then history goes back to the original version?" Eddie asked.

"Polimare is right, we cannot alter any events of us being here are built on," Zhena said.

"Ohh, bullshit!" Diane spat. "We moved a huge iron moon to stop if from splitting the planets apart where Polimare's from!"

Eddie thought for a moment and said, "Ahh, Diane, no we didn't. The split still came. Just later on and maybe not as bad as the original one was."

"We're HERE, we've GOT to do something!" Diane cried.

"We will, we just have to figure out what," Eddie told her. "Doing that and not changing history … it's just not going to be easy." Eddie got up and paced to the kitchen and back to the controls. "OK, there has to be an answer. We know we can move though time, but we can't change history as it affects us. Do I have that right?"

Eddie looked at Ploimare, she nodded, the Zhena nodded. Diane gave a begrudging nod.

"OK, we came back because that transport crashed into that asteroid and Bill and Chika, their whole family died, right? So if we do anything to alter our perception of that event, then we won't have the motivation to time travel here."

"That's right, Eddie," Polimare said.

Diane cast Eddie a frown and asked, "Eddie, remember when we came back? We were only a few months from being declared legally dead."

"Yeah, what about it?"

"Disappeared for 5 years equals legally dead right? So, was there any proof Dad and Chika actually died? Was a body, or pieces ever found?" Diane asked.

Eddie shrugged and looked at Zhena. Zhena shook her head, saying, "I don't know. Normally an accident in deep space like that, no one would even look for the bodies, they would be mush, then broken into component parts within a short time by the vacuum of space."

"Who's to say we didn't get them off that transport before it hit the asteroid?" Diane asked. "And if they come back with us, in our time, then history won't be changed, will it?"

Eddie gaped at Diane, then grew a big smile. "No, it won't," he agreed. He went over, grabbed her head with both hands and planted a kiss on her forehead. "Diane, you're a genius!"

Diane pulled him down by her. "You missed my lips," she said in a playful scold. They kissed again, deeply.

"Playtime?" Polimare asked with a hopeful grin.

Eddie bounced up and said, "Work time! We have to figure out how to get onto that transport and yank everyone off before the asteroid hits!"

.

The standard civilian transport like Bill and Chika would be on only had one entry/exit hatch. Built more or less like an airplane, the cockpit was in the front, the hatch behind the cockpit, the passenger / cargo area, and some had a rear cargo hatch of it was built to handle cargo. The entry hatch was door sized. On Wolverine, part of the rescue equipment was an extendable soft seal inside the airlock that could be mated to a standard entry hatch to allow pressurized transfer to or from a transport.

Never having used theirs, Eddie and Diane spend time in the airlock to make sure the soft seal was in place and in good condition. They even evacuated the air in the air lock and opened the outer door to extent the soft seal out and used a plug to inflate the seal to make sure it held pressure. Satisfied it was good, they pumped the air back out and retracted the seal.

Zhena worked on the time they had to evacuate the transport. She didn't think it would be long. For the asteroid to hit them, meant they didn't see it coming soon enough to avoid it. That meant they must have just come out of a Fold at the most, an hour prior. They either missed the asteroid's approach on radar, or didn't begin pulsing right after Folding in. Reviewing the data she had collected, Zhena did her best to pinpoint where the transport was going to Fold in and how long they had before the impact.

Sitting around in a circle facing each other on the deck with the pot of food in between them, they discussed the new plan as they ate.

Waving his spoon at her, Eddie said, "So, Zhena, you think we have a maximum time of 40 minutes to find that transport, dock, and get everyone off before the asteroid strikes."

"Yes. 40 minutes maximum time. They did not detect the asteroid in time to avoid it. That tells me they had no radar, so they must have just Folded in," Zhena agreed and chomped down the patty sized chicken chunk whole.

"It can take twenty minutes to a half hour just to dock," Diane noted.

"It's going to be tight," Eddie agreed. "But our best theory is getting them off the transport and onto Wolverine. They come back with us and history will not be changed. We have no other working theory."

"When we get close to their arrival, I'll be in the air lock, vacuum pulled to save time," Diane stated.

Eddie nodded. "I should be too, that soft seal is bulky to handle."

"I will!" Polimare said. "Eddie, you can pilot better, and we need to be next to them and docked as soon as we can, right?"

"Yes," Diane agreed quickly. "Zhena, you'll have to do all the comms. I'll get us hooked together. Once we get people on board, we're going to have to haul ass out of there before the asteroid arrives."

"It will be great if we can detect it beforehand," Eddie said. "Say, a week before it's due, start looking hard for it?"

"This next week," Zhena corrected. "If we get a month of tracking on it, we'll have it's trajectory pegged. We will be able to know the second the impact will happen. At least then we will know when, and can refine our time constraints."

"How about the path of the transport?" Eddie asked. "To know when they Fold in will be a real big help."

"The data give the coordinates they Folded to," Zhena told him. "We can sense that location from here. as far as exact time, normal travel time, plus or minus a half hour."

"So we get 45 minutes with an hour plus or minus?" Diane asked.

"The impact could have happened seconds after they Folded in. If it did, there's nothing we can do." Zhena said with a shrug.

"We get between the transport and the asteroid," Eddie said.

"We can't stop the impact," Diane reminded him.

"How about delay it? Push the transport along until we get people off, then let the asteroid hit it," Eddie offered.

"It won't be the same devastating impact," Polimare said.

"It will if we push the empty transport back at the asteroid," Eddie countered.

"I don't think we can do that and get people off at the same time," Diane said. "We have to be mated to their hatch. We rip that soft seal with the airlock doors open, and we're all getting the air sucked out of us."

"There's no way we can snag the transport when it's leaving Earth?" Eddie asked.

"Not unless you want to be seen, and possibly get into a tussle with the local space patrol," Diane said dryly.

"Rats."

"Here is where we have the best information," Zhena said. "This is where we will have the best chance of success, even if it is very small."

At the estimated fifth day before collision, Zhena picked up the incoming asteroid. A short Fold out to it showed it was a big, loose ball of rocks and debris clinging together only due to the microgravity of the mass. That would explain why it blew apart upon hitting the transport.

Diane insisted on a test. She lined up and shot a rail gun round at the asteroid. It blew apart spectacularly. In a blink, it was back on course and intact. The load out showed the round was never shot.

"I had to try," she said.

Casting her a tiny smile, Eddie replied, "You did."

Following the asteroid, they got it's track dead on, then went back to where the transport was suppose to come out of Fold. Zhena followed the asteroid's projected path as they now knew it, and ID'ed the point where the collision would take place. From this, Zhena made a countdown timer.

Current time to impact, 43 hours, 17 minutes, 45 seconds. Eddie had the display up above the electronics console, and in the upper strip of their viewing screens.

They agreed to wait just off the transport's projected path at the four hour mark. Zhena was insistent that the transport would Fold in not more than three hours before the collision.

A sense of excitement filled all of them. After months of waiting, planning and worrying, they were coming down to the wire. It was the calm before the battle, and they wanted to get the battle started.

.

Suzanne couldn't sleep. Eddie, Diane, even Polimare and Zhena were out on a dangerous mission and she was stuck here. Again, she chided herself on the fact she didn't have the nerve to collect them together and lead them on this mission. It was like she had accepted her will was no longer hers. Now, she had nothing except the aching hope they would succeed.

Lucy had decided to retired her, Diane and Eddie the moment they returned to make sure Suzanne's 'order' stayed valid and no one could overturn it. In a surprise to Suzanne, Lucy had all but bounced those admirals off the walls for doubting Suzanne's order. She'd let them know in no uncertain terms, that if they tried to detain or arrest Wolverine's crew, they were out of a job. Although she wasn't happy with Suzanne or her family, Lucy supported her.

Suzanne herself was ready to quit. Just abdicate and walk away. She couldn't even do that until Wolverine returned.

.

The timer read: 4 hours, 21 minutes, 14 seconds to go, and still no transport.

Diane was in the airlock, the lock depressurized. Eddie was in the pilot's seat, poised to maneuver. Zhena was watching for signals and keeping up a visual watch as was Eddie and Poimare. Polimare was also watching the radar closely, watching the asteroid get closer.

The waiting was hell, and time was growing short.

"Four hours to go," Polimare announced.

A frustrated Diane called," Come on, get here already!"

Eddie announced, "Guys, I'm moving to the three hour thirty minute mark and closing in on the collision point so we will be as close as possible when that transport shows up."

"Eddie, move to the right side of the track, that's where the transport hatch should be, on their right," Diane coaxed.

"On it. OK, we're moving along the track right side at three hours and fifty minutes from the collision point." Eddie replied.

"Where are they?" Diane asked.

The three hour point passed, no transport and the asteroid was closing.

"This is gonna be close," Polimare whispered.

"We WILL do this!" Eddie said firmly.

The two hour point passed. Diane called in, "I'm opening the outer door ... I don't see them."

"They aren't on radar yet," Polimare told her.

"Come on show up!" Eddie hissed in frustration.

Eddie looked up to see the one hour mark pass by. The clock ticked down to 50 minutes when Polimare yelled, "Contact dead astern!"

Eddie searched his views and saw the ship directly behind them. He slowed to match speed beside the transport and move closer.

Zhena got on the radio. "Transport, this is LRSAV 201, there is an asteroid coming right at you, We are docking, your crew and passengers are to come aboard with haste! There is no time left to maneuver!"

Eddie felt them shift closer. Diane called, "Making the hatch seal."

The transport responded. "201, you have no authorization to board our ship! Move away now. If you come aboard we will repel boarders!"

"Princess Diane will be coming aboard, attempt to repel her at your own risk!" Zhena shot back.

.

Diane got the soft seal mated. Seeing no one was at the transport hatch, she opened it with her mind hands, ruining the door. A puff of air filled the space. She pressurized the soft seal space from Wolverine, then opened the inner hatch to the transport. Seeing four men with guns pointed at her, she thrust out a shield. The men were slammed back into the far wall. She took her helmet off and yelled.

"DAD! CHIKA, an asteroid's coming, get off this ship NOW. Come on, hurry!"

In her helmet, Eddie's voice said, "Thirty minutes to impact!"

In the seats of the luxurious interior, everyone gaped at her. "Diane?" Bill asked.

"Come on Dad, we got to get out of here, NOW!" she yelled back, waving him towards the hatch.

Bill scooped up his six year old son. "Chika, we have to leave, now," he called behind him.

Chika grabbed the hand of her nine year old Daughter, Yuka. "Diane, what's happening?" she asked.

"Inbound asteroid, we got twenty minutes to get out of here, MOVE!"

Diane held the stunned guards back as she guided her family into Wolverine, Polimare opened the inner door of Wolverine and called, "This way, go to the front."

Yuka pointed at Polimare. "Mommy, she's green!"

Seeing how frantic Diane was, Bill and his family hurried over and into Wolverine. Eddie, still in the pilot's seat said, "In front of this console, grab a seat and buckle in."

In the transport, Diane threw the men's guns to the back then pulled the men to their feet. "Let's go! Get off this ship. Flight crew, come one, get out here!" The men hesitated, Diane pushed them through to Wolverine where Polimare directed them into the back.

"GO back and sit on the bed," Polimare told them."

The stunned men walked in a confused stagger, Polimare guide them in the right direction as they came onto Wolverine.

"Fifteen minute to impact," Eddie called. The door to the cockpit stayed shut, Diane broke it open to see two men and a woman gape at her. "We need to leave now, get out here!" she yelled to them.

"We got an asteroid headed right for us!" one man yelled.

"NO SHIT, MOVE YOUR ASSES OR DIE HERE!" Diane screamed at them. The woman got up and came out. The pilot picked up his mike to radio in a call. Diane shot a mind hand out and ripped the cord out. "No time for that, we have to get clear now!" she barked at him.

"Twelve minutes to impact, Diane, get back aboard," Eddie commanded.

The men unbuckled and came out. Diane got behind them and pushed them through the hatches. She shut the inner hatch of the transport and pushed the men into Wolverine. She announced, "Everyone's in," and shut the inner door. Diane then put her helmet back on.

It would take ten minutes to pump the air out of the space between the ships. Time they didn't have. Diane released the soft seal with her mind hands, blowing the air out of the airlock into space. "Eddie, go!" she cried and pulled the soft seal back into the airlock. She noted the transport falling behind and away. She got the seal back in and shut the outer door, then pressurized the air lock and got back in their ship to see it packed with people.

On split screens above her, Zhena had the transport on one screen and the now visible asteroid on the other. "It's a little early," she noted. They no more than cleared away from the transport and the asteroid rocketed in very close. It hit the transport, causing a flash as the ship was destroyed. The asteroid broke up as it flew away with the ship debris.

"We DID IT!" Eddie yelled happily. Diane raised a fist, Eddie did too. Together they cried, "Panzer Vor!"

Bill, Chika and Yuka turned around in their seats. The boy on Bill's lap peeked up over his shoulder. "You knew this was going to happen? Where's Suzanne?" Bill asked.

Grinning like a fool Diane said, "She couldn't make it."

"I thought you were lost in a black hole?" Chika asked.

"We are!" Diane beamed. "We're going to try to get home now that we got you back."

"Hold on," the transport Captain said. "You went though a black hole? And you're going to do it again?" he asked, wide eyed.

"Sure are," Diane told him. "You better get in back and sit down. You don't want to be standing up when we hit that thing."

"I don't even want to be on board," Polimare said. "It can be a real scary ride."

"Can't you just take us to New Home?" Bill asked.

"We tried that when we wanted to land on Earth and warn you. We got bounced back up into orbit," Eddie told him. "We literally can't land here. We have to take you back with us."

Diane got her pressure suit off and hung up then motioned Eddie to the side. He retook the commander's seat as Diane jumped into her pilot's seat. "Polimare, sensor station," Eddie called. Polimare got in place.

"What's with the aliens on board?" the Transport Captain asked.

"They are crew and family, go sit your ass down in the back!" Diane said sternly.

There was room on the bed for all the crew, including the guards to sit, though it was tight.

Zhena computed the Fold and sent it to Diane. "Sending Fold coordinates back to the black hole."

"Got it, Folding."

It took another Fold, then a large black emptiness in space filled the forward view screen.

"Zhena, take your time, guide Diane to the entry point."

The woman in the back asked in a stressed tone, "We're going through that thing?"

"It's how we got here and it's the only way home," Eddie replied.

"But, black holes are impossible to escape from!"

"Not for us," Diane beamed.

Zhena passed Diane the heading direction and had her 'Z' down, then 'Y' over. Tilt down a degree and a half, then 'Z' up fifty meters.

"This has to be exact," Bill noted.

"Sure does or we'll be going someplace we don't want to," Eddie replied.

Polimare's eyes widened. "We got incoming, fast and HUGE!"

"Folding!" Diane said.

The ship shuddered and move to the side abruptly as they Folded, slamming everyone who wasn't buckled in against the right hand wall. After a vigorous shaking, stars in the view screen were spinning past. Diane's teeth were clenched as she tried to get the ship stable. "Shit, shit shit!" she spat. In the back, a few cries of pain sounded out.

"Where are we?" Eddie asked as Diane stabilized them.

"Checking data," Zhena announced. "Eddie, we got hit by something just before we folded. We passed across the equator at a three point five two degree angle. We've gone back in time!, and into another universe."

"Left rear thruster not responding," Diane reported. "Compensating."

"We have injured!" someone in the back yelled.

"Damn it," Eddie grumbled. "OK, Zhena, try to figure out where we are. Polimare, we got all our sensors?"

"Checking," she replied.

Diane spat out a curse. "Eddie, we're at least 20 light years from the black hole. It threw us out hard."

"Never did that before," Eddie said vacantly.

"How many times have you done this?" Yuka asked, wide eyed.

"Truthfully? We lost count," Diane told her.

Amid the cries of pain in the bedding area, someone yelled, "We need medical help!"

It was chaos in the bedding area as more people cried for help. Chika got up and went back to see what she could do.

"We're stable," Diane said.

Where to go now? Eddie wondered. The ship was damaged and they had injured on board. No matter what universe they were in, they had to land and fix their problems. "Zhena, we need to Fold to the Hot Sands system and see what's there."

Zhena nodded. "Computing Fold … Diane, sending it to you."

"Got it," Diane announced. Folding in three, two one." Diane initiated the fold.

Nothing happened except a red light flashed on her console. Diane stared at it. "Fold failure?" she asked in a squeak.

"What?" Eddie asked weakly. They were in the middle of nowhere near a black hole. This was not the time for more problems. "Diane, Zhena, what happened?"

Zhena read the error on her display. "Fold failure. Aft starboard thruster failure, starboard engine failure. Eddie, whatever hit us, hit us hard."

"We still have nuke boost?"

Zhena checked. "Negative, the system is shut down."

"What can I do to help?" Bill asked.

Diane nodded, motioning behind her,. "Dad, if you could assist Zhena, that would help."

Bill sat the boy in a seat. "Dan, stay here." He got up and went back to the electronics console.

"Yuka, I need your assistance," Chika called.

"Coming mom," Yuka replied and went to the back where the pile of hurting people were on the bed.

"We still got all our forward sensors, nothing aft past mid-ship," Polimare offered.

Eddie looked at her. They were in deep shit, he knew. Propulsion was out, they had wounded and no idea where they were. Firmly he said, "Search for any signals and look for a habitable planet."

"But…"

"Just do it," Eddie said firmly. "Diane, we need to go EVA and inspect the damage."

Diane got up with Eddie. "We are so screwed," she grumbled.

Eddie barked out a laugh and asked, "Since when has there been no problems after going through a black hole?"

"Exterior lights on," Zhena told him. "Guys, be very careful out there."

"We will," Eddie replied.

Getting their pressure suits on, Eddie and Diane also put on magnetic boots and personal thrusting units. Eddie grabbed the tool kit.

Going into the air lock, Diane offered, "Well at least we got Dad and Chika back. Yuka has gotten big. They have a boy now too."

"It's been a while since we've seen them," Eddie agreed. He pumped that air out of the lock. "Hope the damage isn't too bad."

"We'll see soon."

Once the air was out, Diane opened the outer door. Climbing out onto the hull, they shut the outer door and walked across the rounded hull. The first thing they noticed was the paint was blackened all across the starboard side of the ship.

"Polimare said whatever it was, was huge," Eddie noted.

"We probably kissed a star whizzing by," Diane offered.

Walking aft, they noticed there was a coating of something black on the hull. It wasn't smooth, but lumpy and was covered with spikes. It also got thicker as they walked on. Their boots were no longer making contact. They backed up to where their feet had a good magnetic hold.

"What is that?" Diane asked.

"Looks like the back of the ship was dipped in rock."

"OK, that makes sense. If a ball of lava smacked us, then the cooler hull would make it cool and stick. What a mess."

Eddie sighed. "Watch your oxygen, this is going to take a while." he opened the tool kit and handed her a bulky chisel. He selected the pulsing hammer. Diane chuckled.

Eddie frowned at her. "What?"

"I'm not an Icky Goober Chisel any more. I'm a star-rock chisel. Or maybe a rock-star chisel?" Diane asked with a crooked grin.

"Ughh, bad pun," Eddie grunted.

Attacking the rock coating on the hull, they found it did come off fairly easy. The thing was, the whole back of the ship was covered with it. This was going to take a while.


	4. Chapter 4

Ch 4

Life on board a packed Wolverine was not comfortable. Besides Bill's family, the four guards and three flight crew from the destroyed transport made everything difficult. Besides eating more food quicker than Eddie had foreseen, and barely room to stand and have sleeping arrangements. Neither the waste disposal system, nor the water and ir rejuvenation system was made to accommodate fifteen people.

Luckily, Chika knew healing, and was now teaching Yuka as she healed broken bones and a the worse bruising from all those people getting slammed into a wall and crushed together. Eddie and Diane were spending their time chipping rock off the back of Wolverine, coming back inside to refresh their oxygen supply, then heading back out again.

Bill did make some arrangements that helped ease the situation. While Eddie and Suzanne were out he got everyone else together.

"Listen, people, we're not having any fun here, but we're still alive. This is an emergency situation, so we need to treat it as such. Guards, there's not a whole lot you can do, so just sit back on that bed and leave room for others to sack out.. When you get real hungry, eat something to take away the hunger. That's it. Flight crew, see what you can do to help out Polimare and Zhena here. They need rest too. Chika, we'll use the area in front for our sleeping area. The air recycling system is being pushed to the limit. This ship was made for a crew of four, not fifteen. The less we move around, the less oxygen we use. The less we eat, the less we have to relieve ourselves. Until we can get this ship operation again, we are stuck in space going nowhere. Flight crew, lean how to drive this thing and operate the sensors."

Bill went to the front of the consoles. Little Dan was lying across seats snoozing. Bill sat in the corner and tucked himself in for a nap.

Outside, Eddie and Diane were clearing the aft port thruster of the rock. They had made a path down the hull to get to the aft end and clear that first so they could maneuver the ship.

"Diane, we're getting low on O2 again," Eddie noted.

"Yeah, but we've almost got this cleared."

"Come on, this is a big job, let's go in. We'll finish it when we come back out."

Diane frowned but did as he asked. "Hokay. I'm getting kind of tired too." She chiseled a little more rock away to expose the exhaust hole. "It should work now at least."

Eddie banged a chunk away to expose the bottom of the thrusting unit. He put the tools away and followed Diane back up the clear path on the hull.

Getting back inside, Eddie noticed a man in the center console seat, watching Polimare. The woman was standing by Zhena. He got his helmet off an asked, "What's up?"

Zhena turned and said, "Miss Baker is learning the basics of our monitoring system, Mr. Price up there is learning how to drive. He was the transport's pilot. You and Diane are busy fixing the ship."

Diane frowned briefly, then said. "S'OK, we're not going anywhere for a while anyway."

Looking at the cramped quarters, Eddie sighed. "Food and a rest before we go back out?"

"Yeah. We'll take a rest in the airlock. It's the largest floor space we got left," Diane agreed.

Eddie and Diane had a snack, then took a nap together in the airlock while their air packs recharged. There wasn't room to lie down flat, but they did lay prone side by side with their knees up.

Staring at the ceiling, Diane asked, "Do you think Suz is OK?"

"I'm hoping so," Eddie told her. "Then again, I was hoping we'd go back to find Chika already there, and Suz never had to deal with the whole Crown Princes thing. Just wondering where we went. That plan's out the window."

"Yeah. At least we saved them."

"From the crash, yes. We still have to get them home. At least this time out, we have a clue how to navigate that black hole."

"Sorry for being a bitch for so long," Diane offered.

Eddie clasped her hand. "Not your fault. Let's face it, we were at the end of our rope. None of us were cut out for the royal thing. We're fighters. We aren't the stiff and proper type."

Diane laughed. "No, we're not. We need to get Chika back so she can be, and save Suzanne."

"We do. I'm thinking just uncover what we need to do, so we can get our asses moving." Eddie said in a musing tone.

"Can't sleep, can you?"

"Nope."

"Then work till we drop?"

"Sounds good to me."

They got up and went in to put their EVA suits back on. The air packs were charged.

Polimare turned and asked, "Guys? Did you even sleep of just go in there and have sex?"

"Later, we got a hull to clear off," Eddie told her.

"You've been at it sixteen hours!" Zhena reminded them.

"We'll be at it until we're done," Diane told her. "We got to get this ship moving."

"Then let me and Polimare go out for a while," Zhena said.

"Nope, you don't even have a suit, and Polimare has zero practice EVA," Eddie told her. "Just keep things going inside."

Going back out, Diane looked at a clump of rock with a long tail and grabbed it with a mind hand. She snapped it off and saw bare hull underneath. She grew a grin and snapped off another chunk to toss it away. "I think I found a faster way to do this, Eddie, take the chisel and do the fine work around the exhaust ports."

While Eddie cleared the exhaust ports, Diane broke away chunks of rock. She found once she broke away enough so the coating wasn't solid, bigger chunks came off. In a half hour she cleared the upper hull. Moving to the bottom hull, she broke away the largest chunks first, tossing them out away from the ship. Even near the engine exhaust, she was able to clear away most of the rock coating. Eddie got rid of the more delicate areas inside and near the ports and around the sensors.

In two hours, they were walking the hull, scrutinizing for any place they missed. Most of the paint wasn't even missing, just darkened. From what Eddie could tell, their stealth coating was intact.

Going back in, Eddie had the ship tested. Their sensors all worked, as did radar and every thruster fired. A short nuke boost proved that worked, and a Fold towards Hot Sands got them there.

"We got bugs," Zhena announced. "Two ships in system. I read no UNSC ships."

In this universe, the bugs were still expanding. "Fold to Earth," Eddie told her.

Coming to Earth, they got no signals and no space traffic. Nothing was on radar except natural bodies. Eddie figured as much. "OK, Diane, take us into atmosphere, but stay high, 40,000 feet. Let's see what we got."

Passing down through the atmosphere, Eddie scrutinized the ground. Coming to North America, he saw cities and roads. Something didn't look right though. Cars and trucks weren't moving and they were scattered on and around roads. Nothing was moving.

"Something happened down there," Zhena noted.

"Sure did," Eddie agreed. "Check for contaminants. Radiological, biological, anything."

"Air sampling," Zhena said. After a moment, she added, "Nothing abnormal in the air."

"Diane, come down to 15,000 and slow down so we can get a better look at the ground," Eddie said as they passed over Nevada.

Diane did. This low Eddie looked for a cause to what appeared to be a sudden mass die off of people. "This doesn't make sense," he said in a musing tone as they passed over a town. "Remains of people all over, but every building is intact. Some broken windows … by that store it looked like there was a riot or something. Whatever it was, it doesn't look like a war. Zhena you still don't detect anything in the air?"

"No. It appears it might have been caused by chemicals, but I'm not reading any."

"Some mass plague?" Bill guessed.

"It's possible," Diane said. "If it was, we can't land and possibly contaminate the ship."

"I'm not reading any hazardous or strange biologics," Zhena told them.

"Damn peculiar," Bill noted.

"We need medical supplies," Chika reminded them. "Can you find a hospital?"

"Hey! I got movement!" Diane said. "A bus, a few miles ahead!"

"Get over it," Eddie told her.

They sped up. Diane slowed as they caught the bus and marched it's speed. "It's a school bus by the looks," Eddie said.

"Someone's driving it," Diane said. "Maybe we can find out from them what happened."

They watched the bus come to a scattered traffic accident. The bus slowed and worked it's way through the wrecks, pushing a small car aside to get through.

"They're running," Bill said.

"Yeah, but from what?" Diane asked.

"We'll have to talk to them to find out." Eddie said with a frown. "Until we got an idea, I'm not crazy about anyone leaving the ship. They might get contaminated."

Below, the bus picked up speed. Diane matched it. She mostly followed the curves in the road. Seeing farther than the bus could, she noted another pile up. "They will have to stop soon, there's a bridge about three miles up ahead, and it's jammed with wrecks."

The sun was getting lower, casting longer shadows on the ground. Dane noted their shadow was ahead of the bus. Coming to a straight stretch of road, their shadow was on the road ahead of the bus.

.

"What is that?" Penny, the woman with long brown hair and wearing the only ragged clothes she had left, asked.

"What is that?" Jerry asked, holding his shotgun as he looked out the front.

"That round shadow on the road. It's staying ahead of us. I saw it before, but I didn't pay much attention to it." Penny said, pointing it out.

Jerry looked behind them. "Hey, anyone see anything behind us?" he called.

A few refugees looked out the windows.

"It's not behind us, it's ahead of us," Penny said. She looked up. "There's nothing there."

Jerry looked up. He saw nothing but sky. "Hey! A ragged man cried, There's Walkers to the side!"

"Step on it, Penny," Jerry told her.

Penny did. She went over a saw rise and saw the bridge. "Jerry, look! A big accident on the bridge!" she cried.

.

"We got more movement," Eddie noticed. "Looks like people heading for the bus, but they look nasty."

Polimare winced. "Take close look, I don't think they should be alive. The one man has bones showing!"

"Can't be," Eddie said, then looked at Polimare's screen. "How's he even standing up?"

"More are coming from that accident," Diane noted. "The bus is slowing. It's moving onto a dirt track to the left. Ahh, that track only goes a couple hundred yards."

While Eddie was watching, the bus hit one of the ragged people and ran them over, not even slowing down.

Seeing this, Eddie said, "Zhena, you got the lower laser. Something is very wrong down there. Polimare, I'm going to need that seat."

Diane glanced at him. "The bus is closing on a ditch. They will have to stop, or wreck."

"Get down right on top of that bus," Eddie said as he got up and helped Polimare up so he could take the center seat. He put his hands in the gripper controls. "Diane I figure the center of gravity on the bus is what, a little forward of center?"

"What are you going to do?" Polimare asked.

"The other side of the river doesn't have any of those people around. Diane, get right over the bus, I grab it, and we'll take it across the river," Eddie explained.

.

"Oh God… oh God," Penny said as she stopped the bus before the hit the ditch. "We got nowhere to go," she added weakly.

"What is that?" someone asked, and pointed to the river.

Jerry looked to see the shadow of the bus on the river. Right over them was an oblong shape, a pair of giant crab claws was reaching down. "What?" he asked.

Mid bus, the windows exploded in. The refugees screamed and ducked. So did Penny. The silver claws crunched up into the roof. The bus lifted off the ground.

"What's happening?" a girl screamed.

Jerry thought about shooting, but whatever it was, it was metal, and they had a bus full of people for the shot to deflect into. He stared at the claws as the river went by below them. "Something's got us," he managed to say.

.

Diane flew over the river. Seeing a road with no one around moving, she flew them on to line them up with the road. "Eddie, I'm setting them into the road."

"Ok," he said. When the bus was down, he opened the grippers and pulled them to the sides. "Diane, land in front of them."

Diane did. Eddie got the landing gear down, leaving the grippers out and extended.

Edie looked into the bus. By the wide open mouths and people ducking and looking for a place to run to, he knew they were screaming. "Zhena, any contaminants yet?"

"None."

Bill got up. "Eddie, let me out, I'll got talk to them."

"But …"

"Someone needs to, I'll do it. Don't argue, just let me out."

"All right, go," Eddie told him. He went back and opened the inner air lock door and extended the ramp. "We don't have any hand guns," he explained.

"Just keep a sharp eye out," Bill said.

"I'm going too!" Diane said and followed Bill into the air lock. Glancing back, she said, "Everyone else STAY IN HERE!" She then shut the door behind her.

"Diane," Bill said eyeing her.

She put a finger to his lips. "Dad, we just got you back. I'm not losing you again." she opened the outer door and stepped out onto the ramp.

"Damn kids," Bill grumbled and went out with her.

The bus doors opened. Man with a shotgun came out, holding his gun in shaky hands.

"Hey!" Bill called, "Everyone in there OK?"

"What … Who in the hell are you!" the man cried.

"I'm Bill Warren, this is my daughter, Diane. What's going on with this planet? Who were those folks chasing you?"

The man swallowed and relaxed some. "You're aliens?" he asked weakly.

"To this world, yes. What happened here?" Bill asked.

"We're not sure, but there's dead people, we're calling Walkers who get up and kill others. We've been running from them." the man explained. "Ahh, thanks for getting us away from them."

"Walking dead?" Diane asked in disbelief.

"Yeah. Didn't believe it myself until I saw them. They catch someone, they chew them up, the those poor bastards get back up and join them."

Diane eyed him then asked, "Dad, is this shit for real?"

"Seems to be," he said quietly, then asked, "What causes that?"

"We don't know, we just been trying to get away from them."

"This is really friggin odd," Diane said.

Bill looked around and said, "Odd or not, we all need to get someplace safe. Mister, you know of any safe place around?"

"If we did, we'd be there. The name's Jerry. Jerry Kinsley. I got a bus load of hungry and scared people here. Can you help us?"

"We will," Diane told him. "Get back on the bus, we'll go ahead of you and search for someplace safe. That still runs Ok, doesn't it?"

Jerry looked at the bus and said, "It should." he got back on.

Going back onto Wolverine, Diane asked, "Dead people walking around? Sounds like we dropped into a horror movie."

"Might be," Bill agreed.

.

Jerry got back on the bus and closed the doors. He helped Penny up off the floor and back into her driver's seat. "Penny, hon, their friendly. Come on, they're looking for a safe place too. From the air, they will find it before we do."

Penny looked at the thing in front of them. "What is that thing? It look scary."

"Spaceship of some kind. They set us on the road. When they lift off, keep driving and follow them."

Penny gaped at him and asked, "Space ship? How do you know that?"

"They're aliens. A little odd looking, but they aren't Walkers. I think we can trust-em."

"Long as they don't experiment on us," she said with a grumble. The thing in front of them lifted off and flew down the road. Penny put the bus in gear and followed.

.

Back in the air, Diane made sure the road was clear for few miles. They then flew ahead to the next town. Seeing a hospital, and no stumbling dead people walking around, they flew back to where the bus was driving down the road.

Eddie asked Bill, "Those others are dead? That's what he told you?"

"It's what he said. I'm thinking brain-dead. That's how they can even get up being so injured," Bill concluded. "Either way, they're dangerous. We need to stay clear of them."

"A viral infection, maybe?" Diane asked.

Bill shrugged. "Could be, that guy said others become like that after they're bit by one. It could be something like rabies. Nothing airborne, it's transmitted person to person."

Settling down just in front of the bus, Diane offered, "We need someplace that's protected by a continuous wall, or a rooftop so those deadites can't get to us."

"Deadites?" Eddie asked.

"Yeah, remember Bruce Campbell and the Army of Darkness?" she asked with a grin.

"But, we don't have a boom stick," Eddie told her, wearing a smirk.

"Boom stick?" Chika asked.

"That Jerry guy has one," Diane assured her. "But no chainsaw instead of a hand."

"What's a boom stick?" Yuka asked.

.

On the way to the hospital, Eddie had to clear a traffic accident off the road so the bus could get through. Seeing a few 'deadites', Eddie had Zhena zap them with the lower laser, turning them into a pile of burning flesh.

There was no wall around the hospital, but it did have a large flat roof with a landing circle where helicopters could land. Not knowing what was in the building, Eddie had Diane hover over the bus while Chika lowered herself down to tell them the bus was going to be lifted again.

Even though they knew, the people on the bus were very nervous as the claws came back in and the bus lifted into the air. The helopad had enough room to set the bus down and Wolverine to land beside it.

This time, Eddie and Diane got out with Bill and Chika. Diane and Chika went around and checked the roof clear, then made sure noting was coming up the stairs. Eddie and Bill met a frazzled Jerry.

"We should be safe here," Bill told Jerry. "We need medical supplies too, and I'm sure we all need bedding and more food. Got any people who can help carry stuff up?"

"We do. Thanks for the help," Jerry offered. Looking at Eddie, he said, "You don't have horns?"

"I'm human. We have more humans on board and a couple different species of aliens," Eddie told him. "But don't worry, Zhena doesn't bite."

Jerry eyed him, so Eddie added, "You seen alligators right? Zhena is kinda like that. She's a friend though, so don't shoot at her."

Polimare ran partway down the ramp. "Eddie! Is it OK to let some people off?"

"Yeah, we're going to need some guys to help forage, but they have to be briefed first. Bring them out."

Seeing the short, been skinned girl, Jerry asked, "Ah, is she from Mars or something?"

"Polimare is from a planet you never heard of," Eddie told him.

Diane and Chika came back and announced, "Good news, at least the stairway is clear and to open the door from the inside, a key is needed, so we won't be snuck up on."

"Good, let's get our salvage crews together."

Moving people out of Wolverine and out of the bus went smoothly until Zhena emerged and strode down the ramp.

Women screamed and fled back on the bus, one man pushing them on as he got on. Other men back up against the side of the bus and brandished pipes and sticks at her. Zhena stopped to eye this display.

"Why are they frightened," Zhena asked Chika beside her.

"They have never seen a Katan before, and they have been running scared," Chika explained.

"Fear seems to run their life," Zhena said.

Edie shrugged. "I told them, I guess they didn't believe me. Zhena, could you help watch the door when people go down?"

"I will," Zhena replied and walked off the ramp as the bus people left outside shied away from her.

To the side on a clear piece of roof, Eddie got the search teams together. From Wolverine, was Diane, Chkia, Bill and three of the four guards. From the bus a few men and Penny. Jerry came over and insisted on watching the door.

"OK, everyone. Jerry and Zhena are going to be the door watch. When shut, it won't open from the inside. They will have to let you out and ensure no deadites come up on the roof," Eddie explained. Diane, here will take five men, Chika here will take the others to search for food, medicine, bedding, and whatever else we need. Each group stay together! Diane and Chika can protect you so long as you don't wander off. Chika and Diane also have radios to talk to each other and us up here. Watch around you and keep a watch on each other. If you run into trouble, don't keep it a secret. Upon anyone seeing deadites, everyone comes back. Any questions?"

There were none so Eddie said, "All right, get searching. Myself and Zhena will be listening to the radio."

Diane raised her arm and said, "Come on guys! Let's go find some good stuff!"

"Stay together and listen to me!" Chika told her group and followed after Diane's group.

Zhena headed for the door. Seeing Jerry stayed in place, she motioned for him to come also.

Jerry followed, but not too close. At the stairway door, Zhena was looking inside as he came up to her side.

With a hiss in her voice, Zhena said, "I am Zhena. I am a Katan."

"Ah. I gotta say, I never seen anyone like you before. Are all your people alligators?" Jerry asked.

Zhena hissed out a laugh. "Yes, our people are. We have many others on our planet now. Hu-mans are there, so are Cy-lons and the dicloni. Dicloni are the hu-mans with the horns on their heads. They are very powerful. Suzanne, Diane and Eddie are my best friends. They saved us from the Bug."

"The Bug are another type of alien?"

"Yes. They are destructive and wanted to take over our worlds and reduce us to captive slaves and food."

"That's horrible!" Jerry said with a wince. "I take it you beat them?"

"Suzanne and Diane did. Together, they are unstoppable. Hu-mans call them the Terror Twins," Zhena said then raised a clawed finger, "But it is said with respect."

"Bet it is. I take it they are bad-asses?"

"They kick ass," Zhena replied. "Never, even against overwhelming odds, have the Terror Twins ever lost a fight. Our name for Suzanne means Great Warrior. She is the first and only non Katan that was Admiral to our fleet. There is a tall statue to her and the ship they fought with, the Porcupine, is enshrined at the center city airfield. Both are popular tourist attractions now."

"Wow, so I guess these Walkers won't be getting the best of them?"

"The Walkers will be splattered into bits if they come to fight with Diane. I am sure Chika can also take good care of those with her," Zhena assured him.

"I see the ship you got now it painted up all mean looking in front. And what's with those claws it has? You don't like, grapple with other ships, do you?" Jerry asked.

Zhena laughed again and explained all the missions Wolverine was capable of.

Jerry got comfortable talking with Zhena. She looked scary, but this was a nice alien.


	5. Chapter 5

Ch 5

Diane led they way into the building. It looked like a triage area. The first thing she noticed was the elevator there was open. A gurney was jammed in the doors to keep them open. There were also no lights in here, and it was dark. She had everyone stand back as she opened the door to the stairs with a mind hand. Only the dim remains of daylight shown though a tall thin window on the outside wall.

Diane turned her flashlight on and inspected the stairs. There were dried blood spots, and a big one on the first landing, but no bodies.

"Light attracts the walkers," a man behind her said. "Light and sound."

"We better do this tomorrow," another man agreed.

"At least we need some bedding," Diane told them.

Bill turned to the others. "Diane and I will go. Pass back to Chika we'll salvage in the morning."

Chika worked her way through the crowd. "I'll go to," she said.

Bill put a hand on her shoulder. "No, sweetie, stay up here. This could be risky. You can't afford to risk yourself."

Chika frowned at him, then kissed him. "Be very careful," she said in a serious tone.

"We will, you can count on that."

"And don't make any noise!" a man warned.

Bill put a finger to his lips, then waved his hand in a shooing motion. "Everyone go back outside."

Bill got into the stairway with Diane and closed the door.

"Dad, you got working mind hands?" Diane asked quietly.

"I got two. We'll need to carry stuff back," he said.

"Don't use both, keep one free in case we meet these deadites."

"From what we've been told, I'm thinking nothing but a lethal blow to the head is going to stop them," Bill told her.

They went down to the top floor. Again Diane opened he door with a mind hand to look into the hallway. A pained moan sounded and a ragged looking and bloody nurse appeared. Seeing Diane the nurse raised her arms and shuffled at them.

SPLAT. Diane removed her right arm.

SPLAT. Diane removed her left arm.

The nurse kept coming. Diane shot out another hand and pushed the nurse back to pin her to the far wall. "Looks like you're right, Dad."

Bill shot a mind hand out fast and crushed the nurses' head against the wall. SPLAT. The nurse dropped into a heap. "Don't play with the dead people," he chided.

In the hallway there were no more shuffling deadites. Diane and Bill went from room to room. Most of the beds had blood on them. Finding a linen closet, they pulled out all the sheet', blankets and pillows.

"Hey, a laundry cart," Diane said, shining a light on it. They filled it with clean bedding.

Finding another stairway, Bill noticed a deadite was on the other side. The bloody man had a chunk of his face missing, showing bone. It beat at the door and moaned.

"Diane, these things aren't smart enough to open doors."

Diane came over to watch the dead guy on the other side. "The doors are steel and open into the stairwell, the elevators are out, so we can salvage in safety," she said.

"OR, clear this floor and bring people down," Bill added.

"That would be easier," Diane agreed.

"Project for later. We should go back up and tell Eddie what we found. Tomorrow we can work at clearing the hospital of deadites."

"Sounds good to me."

They went back to the stairway to the roof and found another Deadite, a woman with a rotting face, pounding and moaning at the door.

Diane threw the door open, knocking the woman into the safety rail and over it to land two flights down. Looking down on the woman in tattered clothes who was getting up Diane splattered her head. The corpse dropped. More moaning came from below. "We might have to clear the stairwells first," Diane noted.

.

Back up with everyone, Bill announced, "We saw a few of these Deadites. The only way to kill them is to destroy the head. The good news is they are not very fast and appear to be brain dead. They can't even open a door that opens in toward them. The bad news is only a hit to destroy the head will kill them. Ripping arms off does nothing. They are also all through the hospital. They can use stairs, but once in the stairwell, they can't get back onto floors. We clear and block the stairwells, then we can clear each floor of them and have the hospital to ourselves."

"Sounds like a plan," Eddie agreed. "Lure them into the stairwells, and we can wipe them out."

"Light and noise," Diane said. "Those things attract them."

"Wait!" Penny cried, "You want to get their attention?"

"Yes, so we can get rid of them. Here at least," Eddie told her. "We can't go anywhere until our people are taken care of, and you need a safe place to be."

"What about supplies?" Jerry asked. "Even if there is good food inside, it's going to run out." A bunch of nods agreed with him.

Eddie asked, "Does anyone know where the hospital's emergency generator is?"

"We can find it, but it probably ran out of fuel," An older man with a short white beard said.

Eddie though a moment and said, "Tomorrow, we'll work on clearing out the hospital and getting emergency power running. Right now, grab some pillows and blankets and find a place to get some rest. The deadites can't get onto the roof so we're safe."

Diane knew it was selfish, but she booted all the transport men off their bed so she, Eddie and Polimare could get some real sleep, and a little fun.

.

In the morning, after everyone ate from Wolverine's stores, the 'search' crews were modified into 'search and destroy' crews. The roof stairway door guards were changed to one Chika's guards and Penny, who knew everyone who was on the bus. Chika herself insisted on going, so her other three guards went with her. A one inch diameter steam pipe was chopped into five foot sections to provide men with a means to smash Deadite skulls.

Eddie had Zhena, Polimare and a couple men who were mechanics help with the power problem. The men, Jake who was a dark bearded burly man a little thinner from lack of food, and Ray, who was a younger car mechanic, Met with Eddie and his crew under the back of Wolverine. Eddie had their tool kit.

"So, how we gonna make a diesel run with no fuel?" Jake asked, arms crossed over his chest.

"We aren't," Eddie told him. "What we are going to do is take the generator section apart and pull out the power cables, then rig them up with one of our nuclear power cells," he said, pointing up. "We have six power cells for a nuke boost. With only five, Nuke boost will still work, we just won't be as fast. One cell should be able to power the whole hospital."

"Damn," Ray said. "So, this isn't going to make our pee turn green, or make us glow in the dark, is it?"

Eddie chuckled and said, "No. Each cell is sealed. The regulator on each cell is set for very high voltage, but we can turn that down to match whatever the generator voltage is. Most likely 480 or 240. All we have to do is find the generator and pull the nuke power cell then wire it in. So let's go find us a generator."

Obviously, this roof was completely flat so helicopters could land. Looking around the edges, they found behind the school bus was a lower roof and a ladder down to it. Many small buildings were down here. The two biggest ones were air conditioning units.

"YO! Eddie, Ray, over here!" Jake called.

This building was packed with a large diesel generator. The engine was an 8 cylinder turbo. Plenty of power to supply the large box behind it. The thing was dead, the fuel tank empty. Eddie found the electrical box on the side with a big circuit breaker where power went out. He opened it up and they got to work.

Eddie and Ray cut and pulled the power cables from the generator as Zhena went back to the ship and set the nuke power they were going to use for 480, what the diesel had been putting out. By the time she, Polimare and Jake got the power supply out of the ship, Eddie and Ray had the diesel side of the power wires ready. It took some modifying, but with the nuke power cell on top of the electrical bow, they got it wired in. Eddie turned the generator breaker off.

Zhena activated the power cell. It hummed. She nodded to Eddie. Eddie close the breaker.

Lights in the generator shed turned on. Marker lights also came on the roof.

"It works," Eddie said happily.

.

Diane and her group cleared the stairway to the roof first, using anything they could find to block the doors shut on the way down so deadites could not get in behind them. Lengths of pipe worked the best, a pipe jammed against the handle side of the door, then other end braced by the stairway post at the end of each flight. They were on the second floor landing, bracing that door shut when the light above them flickered on.

On the radio, Chika said, "We got lights."

"We got them in the stairwells too," Diane replied. "Where you at?"

"On the fourth floor. It's clear, we are raiding a medical supply room. You?"

"Jamming the second floor door." Diane heard moaning below. "Gotta go, more deadites trying to come up."

Diane dropped down to the next landing to splatter a few deadites that were coming up the steps. She pushed the gore down to the first floor landing and down the steps to the entrance landing. Like the other doors, this one opened out. Deadites were on the other side, pushing and pounding. Diane got the majority of the gore in front of the door, flung it open, shoved the body parts and gore outside, splattered a coupe more Deadites, then slammed the door shut.

Her crew got the pipe wedged into the first floor exit. "OK, this stairway secure, we go back up!" Diane announced. Into her radio, Diane said, 'This is Diane, the length of the roof stairway is secure. We're heading to the third floor to clean that floor out."

.

By early afternoon, they had Two stairwells secured and the fourth, third and second floors clear of deadites. They also got plenty of medical supplies.

The one thing they didn't get was food. The cafeteria and kitchens were on the first floor. They had lights now, but no water pressure. Of course the town water system wasn't working either.

Secure enough to allow people to clean out hospital rooms and use them for bedrooms, at least on three floors, Eddie and Jerry agreed they needed to go get supplies. Eddie agreed to a grocery store run first.

Bill and Chika were ready to go help, but Eddie convinced them they needed to stay and maintain order. With the Wolverine crew and Jerry, Jake and Ray, they lifted off to go find a grocery store.

Seeing a chain store with a big parking pot jumbled with cars, Diane came in and hovered low. Deadites in the area all came shuffling towards the low hum Wolverine was emitting.

From behind Eddie, Jerry said, "This isn't safe. We get off, they'll be all over us."

"Let's do something about that. Zhena get the lower laser ready. Daine, move to the back of the lot, low." Diane moved back away from the store staying low over the parking lot. The Deadites all shuffled towards them. Backed up to the other end of the lot, they hovered as the Deadites below came towards them.

"There's gotta be a couple hundred of them," Ray noted.

"Some coming out of the store too," Jake said.

"I'm ready, Eddie," Zhena said.

Eddie waited until the mob was closing on them, and no others were coming. "Zhena, flatted the lot."

A pale beam shot out from under Wolverine. Staring from the left, it swept clockwise from the left to pan in front of them. Everything it touched burst into flame. Deadites and cars were flashed into flame, gas tanks exploded, light poles fell over. After the beam passed, there was nothing but burning and melted wreckage left behind.

"Damn," Ray breathed out.

"See any more?" Eddie asked.

"None in sight, no motion detected," Zhena replied.

"Anyone for some freshly barbequed Deadite?" Diane asked with a grin.

"I'll pass, I want some real food," Eddie replied. "Let's go check out the store."

Lifting over the burning wreckage, Wolverine set down by the shattered glass entry doors.

With Diane leading the party, everyone except Eddie and Polimare crunched through the glass into the store. Like everything else, the place was a wreck. Shelves had been looted, the meat section stank with what was left there. It looked like everything pre-packaged had been taken, and the vegetables left were rotting.

Trying to sound hopeful, Diane pointed down one isle. "There's still crackers."

"Crackers it is," Ray said with a sigh. He righted a shopping cart, took it over and filled it.

Soda and some dry foods and candy were the only thing that was there and fit to take. They still got a few carts of edibles, though nothing that was healthy food, except maybe some cereal that was left.

Heading back out, the men pushed the carts up the ramp and into Wolverine.

Next, Eddie looked for a farm store or nursery. These people were going to need to grow their own food. At a super-hardware store, they did find a fenced in yard that was still fenced in. There was no room to land inside, but there was plants and small trees within.

"Where are we going to land?" Diane asked.

Eddie frowned as he searched for a good spot. "Think it's going to have to be outside that fence."

Polimare pointed. "Who's that, inside the fence?"

Eddie saw the woman too. She had a digger spade in one hand and a bucket of something in the other. "She's no Deadite," he noted.

"My guess, she lives there. I'm pretty sure that's her garden," Diane said.

"We're not stealing anyone's food," Eddie stated.

"Nope, we'll have to look someplace else," Jake agreed.

"Eddie, I thought I saw a strip mall to the south," Diane said.

"OK, let's go see what's there."

The strip mall was stripped. There wasn't a hardware store and all the stores had broken down windows and doors. Deadites were also moving around. They flew on.

.

Suzanne sat puzzling about the mission her family went on. Nothing had been changed yet, and they had been gone two weeks now. She knew how hairy traveling through a black hole was. They could literally be anywhere in any universe. They may or may not be able to save Chika, her Dad and their kids. It wasn't boding well that they hadn't already.

A maid came into the sitting room. "Princess, Queen Lucy Is ready to see you now."

"Thank you," Suzanne replied. She got up and followed the maid, becoming more certain that she'd lost her family and would have to endure being a royal figure alone.

.

"I've been thinking," Polimare said as they flew along. "Jake and his people need someplace where they can farm. A place that's protected but on the ground."

"True, but where is it?" Eddie asked. "It will need a tall wall all the way around to keep those Deadites out. Something stronger that wood. A gate too so the can get in and out."

"Who's going to pull this place out of their ass?" Diane asked.

"We are, by searching," Eddie replied. "We take back what we found, then go out and look. Maybe a big island in a river, or someplace atop a steep plateau. It doesn't have to be a concrete wall."

"Folks," Jake offered, "However this turns out, you got our eternal gratitude. You didn't have to do anything, but you saved us. Just want you to know that."

"You have," Jerry agreed. "If you just dropped us off now and flew away, you've done more for us that we can ever repay."

"Thanks. We're not going to leave you until e know you're fairly secure," Eddie told them.

"Eddie's right. We don't quit," Diane said firmly. "So get used to us until you get fairly well settled. Our team has never lost a fight, and we're not about to just give up on this one."

"Amen, sister," Polimare stated.

They flew out to the countryside searching for a defendable place. There was nice farmland near a mountain, a nice plain of grass that someone must have farmed some time not long ago. Getting lower, Eddie noticed something. "Diane, is that wheat down there?"

Diane zoomed in. "Yeah, it is. Hey, Jerry, you guys want to be wheat farmers?"

"Wheat, really?" Ray asked.

"Acres and acres of it," Eddie told him. "Diane, mark this spot then fly back to the hospital. We'll dump off what we got and bring Bill and Chika. I got an idea."

"Good idea?" Diane teased.

Eddie grinned at her. "I just hope your chisel still works."

.

Coming back with just the crew, Bill, Chika and their kids, Eddie had Diane hover over the farm while pointing at the mountain.

"I know this may be asking a lot," Eddie began. "Those people need food. Right below is damn near a square mile of wheat fiends. I bet there's a well around here someplace. If not, one can be drilled. MY idea, if you should all agree, is to build a wall around at least a portion of these fields so the people here can have food to grow and harvest."

"This wall's coming out of your ass?" Diane asked with a smirk.

"Nope, yours, Chika's, Uncle Bill's and if she can help, Yuka's."

"Wanna explain that?" Bill asked.

"What did the medieval people do when they wanted to keep others out? Or the Romans, Mayans or anyone else? They built stone walls. Right there is a mountain of stone. We carve into the mountain, mine the stone and make a long, tall wall Deadites can't get over."

Yuka coughed. "What's this 'we' stuff, do you have mind hands?" she asked.

"No, but we got the ship's lasers," Eddie told her. "I can fly and operate the grippers, Zhena carves out the rock, all you have to do is help place it. It's going to be a ton of work, but a safe place for everyone."

They all eyed Eddie, then Diane spoke up and said, "Fuckit! Let's do it. We need to find a water source first and make sure it will be inside our monolithic wall."

"I'm game," Chika said. "Bill?"

"Sure, never build a huge stone wall before. Sounds like a challenge."

Flying low and slow, they did find a water source. Up on the mountain, a stream ran down and across the fields, making pools of water here and there as it meandered away. Soon after, Bill and Zhena planned where to put this stone wall and found they had to cover a square mile to take in the majority of the fields. In that square mile though was wild pigs and plenty of gophers and other wild life. Diane and Chika were let off to begin stripping away small boulders, trees dirt and brush to expose the bedrock so the serious cutting could be done. They stripped trees into logs and piled the logs up in one pile, and all the limbs in another. The rocks they smashed into gravel.

It was two days before Zhena was able to cut the first piece of stone wall. Judging the most weight Wolverine could lift under anti-grav, she cut a ten by ten foot chunk fifty feet long out of the mountainside. Taking it to the north side, Bill showed Eddie where to put it, right against a cliff at the base of the mountain.

Yuka helped here by cutting small stones and fitting them in place the width of the placed wall stone. She also ensured the outside surface was smooth, so no Deadite could dig a hole in her wall.

Once Zhena had cut a few wall rocks out, steps in the mountain were beginning to form. Eddie had another idea. Cut the rock outside the protected area and up the mountain so the wall would extend up the side.

The more they worked, the more efficient they got. Diane measured the stone to be cut, and dug in a few inches to show Zhena where to cut. Chika and Bill helped place the wall stones in place to make sure the wall was straight and gave no outside hand holds for anyone to climb. After the bottom stone were laid, a top layer was added. Again carefully placed. The 20 foot wall of solid rock became longer. They only made a coupe hundred yards a day, but they were building wall steadily.

A short flight to the hospital roof showed everyone there was doing OK. Not great, but they had dry places to sleep, still had food and no Deadites could get in. Informed about the wheat fields and building a wall around them, people gained hope. Many wanted to help, but there was nothing they could do, yet.

Building the north wall took nearly a month. They had to stop and forage for food. In the foraging, they found a hardware store and got every machete, axe and saw the place had.

Once they delivered the supplies, they tool the tools back to the new farm. Diane carved out a small cave to put them in to keep them out of the rain.

At the corner of the wall, the end stone on the top was shortened by ten feet to interlock the corner together. The first top stone on the next wall was lengthened by ten feet to finish this interlocking. The solid wall went on. Yuka picked through the tree branches to make wooden poles, finding straight enough ones to carve them straight. She had various lengths, but right now it was a matter of getting the two inch diameter poles ready for building. She also worked on stripping bark from the logs and following Diane's example, dug caves to put the debris and the poles in.

By their second month here, the east wall was finished and they were working at the south wall. Inside the wall area, here was now a flat stone landing pad for Wolverine, and several small one room caves. The north wall created by digging out the rock when a third of the way up the mountain. With the ten foot steps, thirty feet deep, that would be one hell of a climb up or down.

Coming back to the mountain as the south wall was being built, Zhena and Eddie were now taking rock from where the south wall would meet the mountain. At the base, the mountain was carved back twenty feet deep to match the last stones. 82 days after they'd first started, the long tall wall was finished.

High up on the mountain, Eddie scrutinized their defensive works. Neither he nor Zhena could find a way for anyone to climb up to get inside the walled area. The upper part of the mountain was steep, and the wide cuts of steps went up to the steep parts.

It was time to bring in the residents.

Chika and Bill stayed behind to make more caves up on the first ten foot level of the stepped bedrock where they'd first started cutting. Below was the big pile of crushed stone and the logs and branches not yet put in the small caves at ground level. These caves were for habitation, each one they cut out were two-room caves.

Yuka took the task of making wooden ladders from the poles, using rope to tie the wrungs to the poles. She'd made three and tested them, climbing up and down each up to the first level, and Bill and Chika had hollowed out four square caves when Wolverine came into view, the bus hanging underneath.

.

To celebrate the event of having a permanent safe place, they hunted down a couple wild pigs and had a pig roast. The gutted pigs were buried under the bonfire that they could now light and enjoy without fear of Deadites coming to the party. The pair of 500 pounders fed everyone. They even had barbeque sauce from a grocery store.

While seats were only rocks and some chunks of log, and the only tables were people's laps, everyone was in high spirits. Eddie explained the size of their area, and where the stream was that came down off the mountain not far away. He showed Jerry and Jake where the tools cave was.

"Guys, there's not much more we can do, and we do have to get moving," Eddie told them. You got all your supplies from the hospital? You don't have to go back for anything?"

"We're set. Packed that bus full," Jerry assured him. He glanced out at the fields and said, "Frank says that wheat's nearly ready for harvest. There's things to be done, but we gotta do them. Again, we can't thank you enough for what you did for us."

"Glad we could help. We'll be leaving tomorrow morning. We all need some rest before we go."

We'll see you off," Jake assured him.

Spending their last night in their own bed before the ship was packed with people again, Eddie, Diane and Polimare had some play time.

.

Getting up late in the morning, Eddie helped put the re-salvaged nuke power supply back up in place. Zhena recalibrated it, then began working out the Fold vector to get the back home at the right time.

Polimare got everyone back together, ensuring no one was left behind unless they wanted to be. Despite knowing another trip though the black hole was coming, everyone from the transport got back on board.

Running through their pre-flight checks, the crew ensured Wolverine was ready to fly. Polimare, learning how to operate the grippers, sat in the middle seat. Eddie looked at the green status board and said, "We're set. Polimere, wave as we go up."

The people on the ground heard the hum as Wolverine lifted off. On claw came out and waved to them. Everyone waved back heartily. Wolverine then shot up into the sky, out of sight.

***Six generations later***

Two young men, Bill and Pete walked the wall of 'littletown', one of the extensions of Stone town. The wall of upright logs had a walkway so they could see over the top.

Gazing at the huge stone blocks that made up the wall of Stonetown, Pete said, "I'm not sure about that story of how Stonetown was made. I mean, a giant flying crab ridden by people with horns, a green woman and an alligator built it? I'd sooner think it was the gods, as preacher Davis says."

Bill snorted out a chuckle. "Well you tell me how anyone could cut and lift stone blocks that size. I think it was giants. That big stone statue of a woman with horns was made to honor them, at least, that's what I've learned. She's what, fifteen feet tall?"

"You ever seen anyone fifteen feet tall?" Pete asked.

"No I've never seen any gods, either," Bill replied. "It's all just stories until someone finds some proof."


	6. Chapter 6

CH 6

Once again, Wolverine was lined up for a fold through the black hole. This time everyone was seated, belted in or grabbing the nearest solid object for dear life. Zhena had made the course, Eddie and Diane also checked all the math and calculations. Eddie had the area triple checked to be sure nothing else was going to run into them.

They couldn't afford to have another sling into another universe. Over half the food was gone, and the advanced CO2 scrubbers were reaching their limit, as was the air rejuvenation. With so many people on board, water was only for drinking, which meant it was a godsent they had a sonic shower.

Diane sat in the pilot's seat, adjusting Wolverine's position and attitude by Zhena's commands. For some reason, she got thinking about Muyi, and wondered how she was doing.

"Sending Fold coordinates," Zhena

Diane put them in and replied, "Folding in three, two one…"

The Fold went smoothly. The exited 14 light years from the Black hole.

"Zhena, we do it?" Eddie asked.

"Checking date by astronomical positions," Zhena replied. She work for a bit and nodded. "We are nearly dead on target! Plus or minus a couple months!"

Everyone cheered.

"Great!" Eddie added. We just have to be sure we arrive after we left, and not before. Diane, get us to Hot Sands, full stealth."

"You got it, Eddie!" Diane replied happily. "Folding to Hot Sands."

.

"There's no one here," Polimare said. "No radio traffic, no beacons … nothing."

"Shit," Eddie grumbled and face palmed.

"I'm sorry, Eddie," Zhena offered.

"Not your fault," Eddie replied. "Those calculations are complex and tricky. At least we're in the right time. Hokay, set a Fold for Earth, let's see what we got."

While Diane Folded to Earth and fly to gain orbit, Zhena redid her calculations again. They were spot on. "I don't understand, we should have gone straight back to the right time and place," she said vacantly.

"There are still variables I don' think we even know about," Eddie told her.

"Is this kind of like throwing darts at a dart board when your blindfolded?" Bill asked.

"More or less," Eddie replied. "At least we're getting closer."

"Could we be lost forever?" Chika asked.

"Not forever," Diane said. "But it may be a while … and may take a few years."

"Hey, at least we're alive," Bill said firmly.

Polimare checked her sensors. "We're approaching Earth and … no nothing, again."

"Not surprised," Eddie said with a sigh. "Diane, go down, let's take a look."

Diane entered the atmosphere and dropped all the way down to 10,000 feet. Scanning the ground under high power, Eddie recognized something. The town had change and the star shaped fort around the gate was now looking like some kind of noble's palace. "I know where we are, in the land beyond the gate."

"Yup, I recognize that battle field," Diane agreed.

"Well, let's get to Itallica, at least we can freshen up and bring on supplies there."

They did notice some things that weren't there before. Instead of windy roads, roads and been made to be raised above normal ground level in some places and cut through hills instead of over or around them. Corners were long and smooth, almost like train tracks, but there were no rails.

Coming upon a trail of smoke with a line of wagons behind it, they passed over a road train.

"Looks like Muyi has made good use of the steam engine we showed her," Diane noted.

A distance further and the road neared a stream and another road. A small town had grown up here, with what looked like a train station and water tower. There were also a couple blocky vehicles sitting to the side with barrels sticking out the front and wheels wrapped in a jointed belt.

"Eddie, look, she made tanks!" Diane cried.

"Muyi always wanted her own Porcupine," he said with a grin.

"There's something ahead of us," Polimare noted.

Eddie zoomed in on the flying animal. It was a dragon, the rider was prodding it faster, and taking frantic glances behind him. He was loosing ground on Wolverine.

"Diane, slow down a bit, I think that rider's going to kill that dragon with exhaustion trying to get away from us."

"He does look harried," she agreed. "How about a short detour to see if Coda village got rebuilt?"

"Sounds good," Eddie agreed.

.

"So my dear, The day after tomorrow is your thirtieth birthday, and soon, we will have our first child," Count Devin said as he held Muyi from behind and gently petted her expanding belly.

Muyi held a hand over his and leaned back into him. "Yes, so much has happened. So much good. You won't tell me about this party you are planning?"

"Oh no, I don't want to ruin the surprise," he told her and kissed her neck. "Let's just say it will be … a party for the ages!"

Myui chuckled. Lifting her eyes to the sky, she smiled and said, "There is one thing I wish, but I don't ever think it will happen again."

A messenger ran in and made a clumsy bow as he stopped. "Countess! We have a problem! Our messenger returned from delivering mail, he's frantic and his dragon passed out from exhaustion! It crashed more than landed. Some strange thing chased him most of the way back to Itallica!"

Muyi perked up. "What was it?"

"He's babbling. He's talking about an odd shaped flying animal, but it had no wings and was closing on him. He looked back again and it was gone! He said it looked mean."

Muyi nodded. "Try to get him calmed down and draw out what it looked like. Was he flying low, maybe near it's nest?" she asked.

"We don't know, Countess."

"Go back to him, get details, and see if he or someone can draw what this thing looked like," Muyi said firmly.

"Yes, Countess," he replied with another bow and left.

"This may be a dangerous animal," Devin said with a frown.

Myui shook her head. "Let's not jump to conclusions. If someone gets near an animal's den, especially if they have young, any animal will become aggressive. It turned away and didn't attack, so I am thinking it just wanted him go to away, not hurt him. The messenger dragon riders are young. He may have not realized what he was seeing."

"Very wise, my dear. Then again, you do make very good decisions. You are a wise leader."

Muyi turned and hugged him. "You help me, my love. I just wish Diane and Suzanne could see us now."

A little while later as they were heading to lunch, Lady Stellano met them with a paper in her hand. "Countess, the strange thing our messenger met has been identified." She handed Muyi the paper.

Muyi took it and immediately recognized the rough drawing of Wolverine.

Her "YEEES!" screeched out to echo off the walls of the dining hall and made everyone look at her.

.

Coda village was inhabited again, and looked rebuilt. Satisfied things looked to be going well for the people, Diane headed for Itallica. Approaching the city, a few dragons were in the air. One came closer and waved.

Eddie watched the rider. "Is he waving for us to follow him?"

"Looks like it." Diane said. "Should I?"

"Do it."

Diane followed the dragon, staying back far enough to give him room to fly. Eddie opened the forward view screens. "That's Itallica. Looks like they have been doing some work. Instead of the city being inside the tall walls, now a thick second ring of city had sprung up." Eddie also noted cannons on the walls near the gates, and in one area, a few more what looked like steam powered tanks.

Flying slowly to the palace, Diane noted, "Looks like that are expecting us."

Below, the courtyard on one side was filled with lines of people. Soldiers in polished armor, musicians and row of flag bearers. Directly across from the empty space where they had landed before was a group of nobles.

"Wow, Muyi looks older," Diane noted. Think we came a little into the future?"

Eddie shrugged. "Hard to tell, we'll find out soon."

Diane giggled and said, "OK guys, remember serious time!"

"What?" Bill asked.

Holding up a finger, Diane said, "Serious time when we have to act proper and noble!"

She brought Wolverine down and landed then got up to face the crowd gathered in the back. "OK! These people hold high importance to rank and etiquette! The guards get off first. March up to the pathway and stop about four feet from that red carpet in line. Leave room between you for us to walk through. Next, the transport crew, get to the sides of the guards. Then Zhena and Polimare, then myself and Eddie. Dad and Chika go last with the Yuka and Dan. We will stand in front of you. NO talking except for Myself, Dad, Chika and Eddie unless you are directly addressed."

"You make this sound like a royal affair," the woman said with a snort.

Diane grabbed her with her mind hands and quickly pulled her up nose to nose. Scowling at the shocked woman she said, "This IS a royal affair and if you screw up, I will make you very, very sorry. Do you understand?"

"Yes," she squeaked.

Diane floated her back to where she'd been a little slower. She then opened the inner door and lowered the ramp. "Now guards, get in line, transport crew behind them."

Seeing Diane's flash of anger, they all complied.

The moment the outer airlock door on Wolverine opened, the band began playing the only song Muyi had ever head from Diane. She didn't know the words, but by remembering the music and some help from her wizard, she had taught the band the music to Kelly's Heros.

Still inside, Diane and Eddie heard the music. They caught the tune with the opening trumpets.

"You're kidding," he whispered.

Diane grinned she sang, "Mamma tried to warn by but I held my head up high.."

Eddie joined in. What the hell. "Friends all tried to tell me but I only passed them by."

"This is serious time?" Bill asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Humor them, hon, they've been here before," Chika whispered to him.

Leaving the ship, Diane and Edie sung, "All those burning bridges have come falling after me, all those lonely feelings and those burning memories. Everyone I left behind each time I closed the door, burning bridges gone forevermore!"

.

Hearing that music and seeing Diane, a tear came to Muyi's eye. She still vividly remembered rolling through the countryside in the Porcupine, sitting on Diane's lap while she helped drive. Ok, she just held onto the sticks, but that was the first time she'd ever been out of the palace and one of the most amazing things that every happened to her. All the good things in her life happened after that. Happened after the strange looking woman with purple hair and horns on her head appeared.

"Countess?" Devin asked softly.

She glanced at him and wiped the tear from her eye. "Just fond memories. I am so happy to see them again."

"They are very impressive," Devin agreed. He too never forgot the warning the silver haired one told him, right after she blew apart that stone decoration on the stair railing from fifteen feet away just by looking at it.

The others in uniforms came out and lined up properly, then Diane and Eddie came to the front with another of their Princesses and her family. Seeing each other, Diane and Muyi grew big smiles. The music stopped and Diane strode forward. Muyi did also. They met in a hug.

"Screw serious time," Diane whispered.

Muyi laughed. "That's my Diane," she said with a wide grin. "How have you been? You look … a bit shorter. You don't age?"

"We do, maybe not as the same rate as you. You've gotten tall," Diane noted. She peeked back at Devin. "So, is he treating you well?'

"He is," Muyi assured her. Muyi waved Devin to come over. "And I'm going to have a baby."

"Congratulations!" Diane beamed. She waved Eddie and Chika and her family over. "Come meet Countess Muyi!" To Myui, she pointed out who everyone was. "Do you remember Chika? This is Bill, her husband, and their children, Yuka and Dan."

Muyi looked at the group an asked, "Where's Suzanne?"

Diane winced and said, "She couldn't come, and for her it's probably best. I'll explain later."

"Greetings, any family of Diane's is family of mine," Muyi said happily. I have rooms ready for you. I didn't think so many people could fit on your Wolverine."

"They can't," Diane told her. "It's tight and, well it's best if I explain later." Seeing Muyi's confused look, she added, "We had to rescue them."

"Well then come in. Servants will see everyone to their rooms," Muyi said and motioned to the line of servants. They quickly formed up. "Please, follow them so you can get settled."

Not realizing it, Muyi had clasped Diane's hand. Eddie walked to Diane's side, Devin on Muyi's side.

While others were guided to their rooms, Muyi went with Diane and Eddie to their room, Polimare and Zhena behind them. The whole way, Muyi explained about how much the present of steam power had helped the Empire, and being the only place that made steam engines, work vehicles and cannons, Itallica was becoming rich.

"We also guard the vital parts," Muyi explained as she and Diane sat at the common table in their rooms. "Lord Devin's city makes shaped steel plates and wheels for us, so we can give some wealth and work to his people. The pistons some other parts are made in the Capital city, we also have things made in the Allied Kingdoms and sell to them as well. Travel is faster and more people are moving into lands that were too isolated to go to. Even the elves and the free Rabbit people are now allied with the Empire. Queen Pinya has done a wonderful job of promoting peace and prosperity."

"It's good to hear you are doing well," Diane told her. "I always knew you could make a difference."

"I'm happy you came back to see us. You said you were rescuing people?"

Diane nodded and frowned. "We have been, but we got a few problems." She told Muyi about stealing their own ship to go save Bill, who was her father and Chika, and the declaration they were now pirates. "We had to save some others also, and it has drained our resources. We are running out of food, and we can't just go back and ask for more."

Muyi frowned at her. "That's terrible! You are saving people and you're being called criminals?" Clapping a hand on hers, Muyi stated, "Whatever you need, we will do our best to give you. You've done so much for me, I can't ever repay you."

"We only did what was right," Diane said with a small grin.

"I shall also. You name it, you have it!" Muyi stated.

"Thank you, we really appreciate it," Diane said sincerely.

"You're staying for my birthday party the day after tomorrow?" Muyi asked.

"We wouldn't miss it for anything," Diane assured her.

.

The train was loaded and ready to move when a messenger came to Empress Pinya, who was about to exit her coach to board the train.

"Your Majesty," the man said with a bow. "The Goddesses have returned! They were seen landing in Itallica."

Pinya smiled. Yes, this was an important birthday for the Countess. Muyi never really had a mother, her mother died not long after Muyi was born. The Goddess Diane had partially taken up the role and had been watching over Muyi and helping her and the Empire. It only made sense that they would return for such an important event in Muyi's life as Muyi's first child. "Thank you. It will be a joy to see them again."

.

Busty rabbit women with long legs in maid uniforms. The flight crew and guards from the transport ship could not stop eyeballing them. The men nearly drooling, the one woman with them eyeing the men with a frown. They also locked on to every elf woman the saw.

While the crew and guards from the transport ogled the servants, Diane, Eddie, Chika and Bill went with Muyi to meet the new Rabbit Queen and the leaders of the three major Elven tribes that had arrived.

Porthos, the white haired leader of the Elven tribe the Wolverine crew had dispatched the fire dragon for, bowed deeply to them. "It is a great honor to finally meet you, Sky Warriors. We never got to properly thank you for destroying that fire dragon. You have our undying gratitude for saving our people from destruction."

"You are quite welcome," Diane replied and returned his bow. "We were happy to help."

The Rabbit woman dressed in an elegant light blue gown with gold rimming on her collar and cuffs also bowed to them. "I understand it was you who also helped us regain our kingdom and independence, and helped put Empress Pinya on the throne. We too, are in your debt."

"It is good to be recognized. We only helped change the Empire's thinking," Chika told her.

"Even so, thank you."

During the formal meeting and greeting, Muyi could see Diane wasn't comfortable. Once all the introductions were over, Muyi clasped Diane's hand. and asked, "Goddess, would you like to go see what we have made out of the devices you showed us?"

Diane brightened up. "Yes, please! Come on, Eddie!"

Escaping the formalities, leaving Chika to do her 'royal' thing, Diane and Eddie followed Muyi down to the large workshop in the back behind the palace.

The workshop was large. Inside, a large area were the prototypes of each machine they had made. Another area was the 'inventions' area where steam driven devices were being made and tested. Watching men work, Diane noted something. "Muyi, you still use the large cylinders directly attached to the wheels?"

Muyi nodded. "Yes, it gives good power to the wheels and can pull a long train of wagons, or farm implements."

"Can we try something?" Diane asked.

Muyi waved the supervisor, a muscled man in work clothes, over to them. "Mr. Greandolen, a word please!"

"Yes, Countess?" he asked, coming over.

"Goddess Diane wants to experiment, please accommodate her."

The man bowed. "Of course, Countess. What is it you'd like us to do, Goddess?" he asked.

"Call me Diane, please. You have a forge and molding material?"

"We do, right this way."

Diane grinned and said, "Come on, Eddie, let's built them an engine and drive train!"

Mr. Greandolen and Muyi watched as Diane and Eddie went over to discuss what to do, the began making wooden blanks of conical gears. Diane carved them, Eddie fitted them together. They made a few, then brought one for Mr. Greandolen and asked him to forge four copies of it in steel. While he did that, Eddie selected a steel plate and some steel rod while Diane went to the stock of pistons to grab six of them.

Muyi watched as they cut short cylinders out of a couple long ones. Grabbing some support structure, they set the cylinders in a 'V' shape, three to a side. She lost track of time as the engine slowly took shape. Diane and Eddie were animated as they had workers help put the engine together. Before she realized it, torches and oil lamps were being lit, it was getting dark outside. The bent rod they made went under the cylinders and had the pistons connected to it. Muyi had no idea what they were making as they added top caps to the cylinders, but no bottom caps, then added pipes sticking up and a chain to go from the bent rod on the bottom up to another rod in the center of their device. They puzzled out how to 'turn' the caps to match where the pistons were, and turned the bottom rod, which moved all the pistons, by hand. Once they were satisfied, They added more pipes to the top caps and connected them together and added a vale on the end.

Next they added a shaft to the back that went to the box they made and the steel gears Eddie had forged. They added an axle on each side, and small wheels on the ends.

"I think we're ready for some steam," Eddie announced.

A standard sized boiler was brought over and hooked to the valve. The boiler was heated up.

"What is that thing?" Mr. Greandolen asked.

"A V-six engine, steam powered," Diane told him. "If it works like it should, it will give you much more power than cylinders connected to the wheels, as well as better speed control."

Watching the pressure in the boiler rise, Eddie said, "Crack open the valve."

Diane did. The engine turned over, all pistons moving. Steam exited the pipes pointing straight up. Diane opened the valve farther, then engine ran faster. She beamed a smile at Muyi. "This is a very rough design, the pistons and the crank shaft on the bottom all need to be balanced for even weight, and you'll need a transmission on the back to change from more speed to more power. We'll get that later. This is just to show you basically how it works."

Muyi noted that instead of the slow chug, chug, noise from their machines, this engine was almost an even, constant rumble. Diane opened the valve more and the engine sped up. Diane then shut the valve.

"Countess?" Devin asked as he came in.

Muyi pointed to the engine and said, "Come look at what Diane did!"

Devin eyed it. "A new device?" he asked.

"Yes, it will give you more, and more even power for your machines," Diane told him.

Devin nodded then said, "Perhaps you should give it a rest for now, it is the middle of the night."

Muyi looked outside. It was dark out. She giggled, "I didn't realize it was so late."

Wearing a grin, Diane told her, "Time flies when you're having fun."

"Queen Pinya is due to arrive in the morning. We should be rested and be at our best," Devin told them.

"You are correct, my love," Muyi agreed.

"Sorry we kept you up so late," Diane offered. "He's right, we should get to bed."

While they left, Mr. Greandolen and his engineers and mechanics studied the 'V-six' engine closely.

.

In the morning, a messenger came to announce Queen Pinya's train was coming into town. Again, a grand welcoming was formed with the red carpet and all the guards in polished armor in a long receiving line and nobles in their gowns and suits. Everyone was in place when Queen Pinya arrived. In the front royal line, Muyi and Diane were looking a little tired, only getting a few hours sleep.

Coming up to them, Pinya grinned and asked, "Late night?"

Wearing a smile, Muyi replied, "Yes, Empress, Diane was showing us how to built a new engine. We didn't realize how late it was."

"My fault, your Majesty," Diane offered.

Pinya waved a hand and said, "Don't be concerned. I am sure you have given us another miracle, as you have in the past. It is very good to see you again, Goddess." To Chika, Pinya bowed and added, "You also, Goddess."

"We have heard very good things about you, Queen Pinya," Chika told her. "Whatever we can do to support you, let us know."

"Thank you," Pinya said sincerely. "You will always have a friend in the Empire."

Pinya went down the line greeting the other nobles who'd come. After the official greeting ceremony, she too wanted to go see what new device Goddess Diane had brought.


	7. Chapter 7

CH 7

Eddie noted on a trip to Muyi's warehouse to get more parts that some of the transport crew were spending much time with bunny women. Sitting and talking, and one man was walking through the gardens holding hands with a cute blonde rabbit woman. He wondered how many were going to ask to stay here.

In the workshop, Muyi's design team were working hard to analyze the engine he and Diane had made. Today, Pinya stood by Muyi listening closely as he and Diane explained how to balance an engine to the design crew. They had already made more parts to try and build a second engine. By the time Eddie was explaining a transmission and clutch to them, it was dinner time. Again, they were surprised that time had flown by faster than they thought.

It was Chika who came down to workshop to view the work going on and stood by Pinya and Muyi. "This is very interesting," she noted.

"It is," The Empress agreed as she watched Eddie and Diane explained to the workmen how the simple transmission worked.

"Even so, Countess, your guests are feeling bad that you and the Empress have abandoned them," Chika explained.

Both women looked at her and flushed with embarrassment. This was a royal gathering.

"I'm sure they understand but it is rather rude to not pay any attention to them," Chika said calmly.

"Yes … yes, Countess, we need to go," Pinya said firmly.

Chika called, "Diane, Eddie, dinner is about to be served. Perhaps you can come back later?"

"Huh?" Diane asked and looked up.

"Ahh, yeah, dinner break everyone!" Eddie announced.

"Ohhh," Muyi cried and ran out.

"Muyi, don't run!" Diane cried and went after her. Eddie ran after Diane.

Chika chuckled lightly at her and walked out with Pinya. Pinya was embarrassed and explained, "I just never realized some machines could be so complicated.."

With a gentle smile, Chika said, "Yes, they can be. I do have to ask a question, Empress. You seem to be getting on to middle age. You don't have a heir yet?"

Pinya let out a breath and said, "I can't seem to find the time to find a good man. My advisors all insist I do need an heir, but I'm not going to have a baby with just anyone."

"I see. Still, you have to know that your Kingdom will only last as long as you rule, unless to do have an heir."

Pinya frowned . "I know." She glanced at Chika and said, "There are many men who have offered, but I see only the lust for power in their eyes," she complained. "It makes me nervous about what they will do when they get that power. I do not want another like my brothers to gain power again."

"My husband Bill was a soldier," Chika told her. "Queen Lucy's husband is just a nice guy who supported her completely. Eddie is the same. They have no noble background at all, yet have gone to extreme lengths to help and support their women. They are not noble by birth, but by action."

Pinya eyed her. "They are of common birth?"

"Common in birth, but not by their actions," Chika agreed. "Pinya, things like honor and devotion are not decided what class someone is born into. It's decided by the individual. Eddie is a soldier's son. He got his crew together to come and save Suzanne from her fate, one she, and none of them wanted for her. It is questionable whether or not they will ever return home. He knew that from the beginning, but to keep Suzanne from suffering a miserable life, he led the charge to make things better for her. No matter what happens to him. He would go to hell and back for Suzanne or Diane. It's not the first time he's done it either."

Pinya nodded slowly as the walked into the garden. "What do you think I should do?"

"I can't tell you that. I'm just saying maybe you should look beyond nobility for a good man to be beside you."

Coming close to the palace, they could see in the windows that the dinning table was ringed with people standing around it. "Looks like they are waiting for us," Chika said with a grin.

.

During dinner and in the 'mingling' after, Diane noted Pinya seemed deep in thought. An orchestra was supplying soothing string music in the background with a soft drum beat as nobles chatted and servants cycled around with trays of drinks. Seeing she was getting bored, Eddie came up to her, bowed and asked, "May I have this dance?"

Diane grinned. "Why yes, my good man." She offered a limp wrist out to him. He took her hand and kissed it, then led her out to a clear space of floor.

It was a slow waltz-type dance, hands clasped and extended, the other around each other. It seemed to fit the music. In a short time, they had an audience gathered around to watch. Devin then asked Muyi to dance, a couple others joined in.

Pinya watched them and the smiles on their faces. Eddie whispered something to Diane, she laughed. They went up to the conductor and got his attention. Eddie then excused himself and ran out. Diane talked to the conductor briefly and the orchestra kept on playing.

What were they doing?

Seeing Chika sigh, Pinya went over to her and Bill. "Goddess, Do they have something planned?" she asked.

Bill laughed, "I'm afraid so, and it probably won't be politically correct."

"We can stop it of you want," Chika told her.

Pinya shook her head. She wanted to see what this was. "No, please, the last song Goddess Diane did for Muyi was very good."

Bill winced. "They've had a few drinks. It's really hard to tell what they are up to."

The orchestra stopped for a break. Diane got them gathered around and talked low to them in frantic motions, making gestures. Eddie came back in carrying speakers with a couple men an a rabbit woman. He set them to either side of the orchestra stage, and took the pole with a mike on it and a guitar from the rabbit women they all hooked everything together with cords.

By now, they had everyone's attention, curious what they were doing. Diane was talking to the drummer. She took a sheet from Eddie and showed it to him as she explained. Eddie fiddled with the guitar as Diane then talked to the violin players, then the base players.

Finally, Diane went to the mike. Her voice was amplified by the speakers on the ends. "Everyone! We're going to do a song to honor Countess Muyi's coming baby! Muyi, may your child be healthy and strong." She then nodded to Eddie.

The high toned music coming out of his instrument was nothing like they had ever heard before. A wave of her hand and the whole Orchestra begin playing a snappy tune. Instead of soft, the drummer was beating down hard on his drums. Diane began singing.

_She's got a smile that seems to me_

_Reminds me of childhood, memories_

_Where everything was as fresh a the bright blue sky_

_._

_Now and then when I see her face_

_She takes me away to that special place_

_And if I stayed too long, I'd probably break down and cry_

_Ohhh, ohh ohh, sweet child of mine_

_Whoa, ohh oh, sweet child of mine_

The orchestra played the snappy music, seeming to be lead by Eddie with his amazing guitar and the hard beat of the drums. People began bobbing thir heads and tapping their feet to the music.

_She's got eyes of the bluest sky _

_As if they, thought of rain_

_I hate to look into those eyes and see an ounce of pain_

_Her hair reminds me of a warm safe place_

_Where as a child I'd hide_

_._

_I pray to the thunder and the rain_

_To quietly pass her by- eye_

_Ohhh, ohh ohh, sweet child of mine_

_Whoa, ohh oh, sweet child of mine_

.

Eddie and the orchestra played on as Diane did a little dance by the microphone. Eddie made more amazing sounds as the Orchestra played on. Others began dancing too. Chika and Bill even got Pinya to loosten up and do a hip-wiggle dance. Pinya had to admit, hearing this lively music, it was hard to jut stand in place. Queen Allani, the rabbit Queen, was moving across the floor in a dance. Porthos, the Elven leader joined her.

When the song was over, applause sounded loud in the room.

Eddie stepped up to the mike. "All right, it's time to party!" He did something on his guitar and began playing another tune from the speakers. After a moment of playing to get the beat down and the orchestra following, he began singing.

_Been workin, so hard. I've been punching my card_

_Eight hours, for what?_

_O, tell me what have you got?_

_I got this feeling,_

_That time's just holding me down._

_._

_I'll hit the ceiling,_

_Or else tear up this town!_

_._

_Now I gota cut loose, footloose_

_Kick off the Sunday shoes_

_See, Allani, pull me offa my knees_

_Jack, get back_

_Come on before we crack,_

_lose, you blues_

_Everybody cut footloose!_

_._

_You're playin, so cool_

_Obeying every rule._

_Dig way down in your heart_

_You're yearning, burning for_

_Somebody to tell you_

_That life aint' passing you by_

_I'm tying to tell you,_

_It will if you don't even try._

_._

_You'd fly if you only cut loose_

_Footloose._

_Kick off the Sunday shoes_

_Owweee, Muyi, _

_Shake it, shake it Muyi!_

_OH, Porthos, look it_

_just look at him go!_

_Oh yeah, Pinya, _

_Those feet are flying for ya_

_Lose, you blues_

_Everybody cut footloose!_

By now, everyone was doing some kind of dance, Allani and Portos, Bill and Chika, and Muyi and Devin were getting into it, Muyi dancing as much as she could with a big belly full of child. Smiles were appearing on everyone's faces.

_We've got to turn you around_

_Get your feet off the ground_

_For now, forget all the rules_

_And blow away all of your blues!_

Eddie kept singing and playing, noting the nobles were no longer acting stiff, but really enjoying themselves. At the end, he got a round of applause and cries for 'encore' and more.

Eddie looked at Diane and shrugged, "That's all we had planned."

Diane frowned briefly, then ran over to him. She whispered in his ear.

"Hey, Diane! Let's hear some about you," Muyi called.

"Me?" Diane asked, pointing to herself.

Eddie and Diane whispered to each other a moment, then Diane took the mike. "Ok. In another part of the stars, there was a species of beings we called bugs. These bug had thousands of ships and invaded other planets, like this one. We found them very aggressive, and thinking they were the ones to rule and organize every other living beings into their slaves and food. That was, until they ran into us. .I can remember during he first big battle with them, 30 of our ships against hundreds of theirs, I was reminded of this song. It was a long slugfest where we came out on top and beat their asses bloody. In the end, they were terrified of us, and will be for a long time to come. She then nodded to Eddie. He began playing, Diane sang in a firm, strong voice.

_You're a real tough cookie with a long history_

_For breaking little hearts like the one in me_

_That's OK, let see how you do it,_

_Put up your dukes, let's get down to it._

_Hit me with your best shot!_

_Why don't ya hit me with your best shot_

_Hit me with your best shot_

_Fire away!_

_Come on, come on with it_

_You don't fight fair_

_That's OK, see if I care_

_Knock me down, it's all in vain_

_I get right back on my feet again_

_. _

The noble crowd liked Pat Benetars' '_Hit me with your best shot' _. Dane then did _The Logical Song_, to tell what it felt like when she was younger.

_When I was young,_

_It seemed that life was so wonderful,_

_Oh, beautiful, magical_

_All the birds in the trees, they were singing so happily, joyfully_

_Playfully, watching me_

_._

_But then I was taken away, to teach me how to be sensible_

_Logical, oh responsible, practical_

_And then they showed me a world where I could be so dependable_

_Oh, clinical, oh intellectual, cynical._

_._

_There are times, when all the world's asleep_

_The questions run so deep_

_A search is in demand._

_Won't you please,_

_Please tell me what you learned_

_I know it sounds absurd_

_Please tell me who I Am!_

_._

_Watch what you say!_

_They'll be calling you a radical, _

_Liberal, oh, fanatical, a criminal_

_Oh, won't you sign up your name_

_We'd like to feel you're acceptable,_

_Respectable, oh, presentable, a VEGTABLE!_

_._

_There are times, when all the world's asleep_

_The questions run so deep_

_A search is in demand._

_Won't you please,_

_Please tell me what you learned_

_I know it sounds absurd_

_Please tell me who I Am!_

_Who I am,_

_Who I am_

_WHO I AM!_

That song went over well, though there were some now eyeing Diane with a wondering look. Diane looked over at Bill and said, "One more, for my Dad. It's the closest I could come to the complete truth." She then sang her version of 'L_eader of the band"_

_An only child alone and wild, _

_a cabinet maker's son_

_His hands were meant for different work_

_And his heart was known to none_

_He left his home and went his lone and solitary way_

_And he gave to me a gift I know,_

_I never can repay_

_A quiet man of honor, denied a simpler fate_

_He tried to be a soldier once,_

_but his conscious wouldn't wait_

_He earned his love through discipline, _

_a thundering velvet hand_

_His gentle means of sculpting souls took me years to understand_

_._

_The leader of the band is tired and his eyes are growing old_

_But his blood runs through my instrument and his song is in my soul_

_My life has been a poor attempt to imitate the man_

_I'm just a living legacy to the leader of the band_

_._

_My family's lives were different, for they heard another call_

_Some are in Japan and the others in Saint Paul_

_And I'm in Wolverine when I'm not in some hotel_

_Living out this life I've chose and come to know so well_

_._

_I thank you for the wisdom and guiding us down the road_

_I thank you for the freedom when it came my time to go_

_I thank you for the kindness and the times when you got tough_

_And Daddy, I don't think Ive said 'I love you' near enough_

_._

_The leader of the band is tired and his eyes are growing old_

_But his blood runs through my instrument and his song is in my soul_

_My life has been a poor attempt to imitate the man_

_I'm just a living legacy to the leader of the band_

_I am a living legacy to the leader of, the band_

Diane finished her song, Bill strode up and motioned her over. They met in a hug. A sigh of good feeling passed through the room. Yuka ran over and joined the hug.

It seemed to Eddie that for just a little while, all the nobles had lost their noble bearing and just went with the music. That was good to see.

Muyi clasped her stomach and cried out, getting everyone' attention. "I think the baby's coming," she cried.

It was now a rush to get Muyi to her room and midwives hustled to get everything ready.

.

Muyi's birthday was on hold until the baby came. Midwives cycled in and out of Muyi's room, Devin - not allowed to be present at the birth, paced in worry with other noble men waiting with him. Diane itched to go in to see Muyi, but Chika kept her out and went in with the other midwives to see to the birth.

Not being able to stay next to Muyi, Diane wandered out on the balcony in a room nearby and gazed over the landscape. She knew they would have to leave soon and take another shot at trying to get home. Seeing Muyi's baby was going to be their last visit here. To her surprise, Pinya came out and took the same arms on railing pose.

"From your last songs, I take it life hasn't been easy for you either?" Pinya asked.

Diane let out a snort. "You could say that. When we were very young, we had a nice home. Daddy had fun things for us to do, he taught us and made everything fun," she said vacantly. She shook her head and added, "Then, things got confusing. Someone began chasing us. We thought it was bad wizards. Daddy led us away. Things got worse when the woman we thought was our mother, wanted to kill us. Daddy wouldn't let her and we escaped again. We didn't get away. They eventually caught up to us, beat Daddy and took us away. We were take to this place I thought was a prison. Come to find out, even though I didn't want to believe it, this was our true family. Long story short, we were born Japanese sect members, but we didn't fit in. Suzanne and I thought of ourselves as Americans, and proud of it. That caused a ton of problems. Anything we liked, our family didn't like. Mama Mariko thought it was horrible we grew up riding on tanks. We were the 'lost' children, the wrenched refuse, the Terror Twins as my loving sister informed all her friends. To her, we were barbarians, Ganshi, and she freely let us know it. We weren't truly of the sect, we weren't Americans either. We weren't truly accepted by any one. I had to hang onto was Suzanne, the only one she had to hang onto was me."

Diane cracked a grin and said, "It got better in our higher grades of school. Daddy got us our own tank. The Porcupine. In the Tankery sport there, we showed everyone what the Terror Twins could do. We beat everbody, even the army. Twenty against us, and we kicked their asses and humiliated them." Diane then let out a little giggle. "Eddie was special to us. He understood us when it seemed no one else did. I learned that staying true to Suzanne and Eddie was the only real things I was concerned about. I thought we had it made. We were finally our very own family, doing what we do best."

Diane then frowned and said, "When we got back from another tough trip, we found out Daddy and Chika died. Suzanne was now to become the Crown Princess, next in line after Lucy. I think you know by now, I'm not a …. proper and dignified royal. Neither is Suzanne. It's killing her to stand up and be forced to go do that. Eddie led us on this mission to save Chika and Daddy. Not just to save them, but to save Suzanne, and me from becoming miserable and hating each other. Eddie knew it had to be done, despite what other people say. He's right. He is looking out for us."

Turning to Pinya, who was watching her closely, she said, "So now once gain, we're in trouble. The criminals, the pirates that stole our own ship. That's OK though. As long as we can get Daddy and Chika home, and Chika takes her place as the Crown Princess so we can get Suzanne away from that fate, it's fine. Let them think what they want. I just want my sister back."

Pinya nodded slowly. "You know Diane, if you want to stay here, you're more than welcome. Everyone in the Empire has a great deal of respect for you," she offered.

"Thank you for that," Diane replied. "The thing is, to get Suzanne back, we're going to have to go back and face the consequences. We'll find out what happens from there," she finished in a huff.

"Will I help if we go along with you?" Pinya asked.

Diane chuckled. "No room," she said in a musical tone. "Our ship is already packed so much we can hardly move. Thank you for the thought though."

Yuka came running out. "Diane! Muyi had her baby, it's a girl!" she cried happily.

"Great!" Diane cried." Not thinking abut it, she hooked Pinya's arm and said, "Let's go see."

Pinya tried to hid her smirk. Diane now was just like she'd been. Very open and very friendly and somewhat child-like. She remembered at being appalled that Diane had the young Muyi up on her shoulders, holding her horns and pretending to 'steer the tank'. Her misunderstanding when Diane had clasped Muyi's hand and led her away. She's though it was purely political why Diane had done that. It wasn't, Diane was only looking our for Muyi, and had taught her some amazing things. Everything Diane taught Muyi, Muyi had shared with the Empire and made their lands and all their people better off.

To learn how rough Diane's younger life was, didn't seen right. She was a goddess, deserving of respect and high praise. Even though Pinya knew she herself was royalty from birth, she hadn't had to deal with many disappointments and the trials Diane had. Even if she hadn't been confident, Pinya had always known who she was. She felt like she had to do something for Diane.

.

While Pinya took her turn to fawn over Muyi's baby, who Muyi named 'Consetta', after her grandmother, a messenger hurried over to her and got her attention. Quietly he said, "On Alnus Hill, another gate has opened. Your Majesty, our Lord would like instructions, seeing what happened the last time we had a gate."

Pinya towed him to a quiet spot and whispered, "Send no one through! Set up a good defense and wait to see if anyone come through from the other side. I will have Imperial troops arriving soon. Go!"

"Yes, your Majesty," the man said and took off.

Pinya didn't want another disaster like happened last time with entire armies obliterated. She also didn't want to be defenseless. Leaving the new baby celebration, she had her advisors called and to meet her at Alnus Hill to find out what was on the other side. She did leave word with the other nobles an important event had come up that drew her attention away and apologized for not being present.

By fast carrier, dragon and train, Pinya, her knights, advisors and troops rushed to Alnus Hill. Having steam tanks, a solid of line of them chugged their way to the hill. Lord Fairmont has his gates open, his few canons and troops in a semi-circle around the gate to stop whoever came out. Pinya's Generals quickly reinforced that line with a thicker line including their tanks, more cannon and hastily build defense walls.

While that happened, Pinya sent Bozes, one of her most trusted Knights, and her troop through the Gate to scout out what was on the other side. Pinya stressed that this mission was to only see what was there, then report back.

Carrying their new crossbows that could penetrate a knight's armor, Bozes led her knights on horseback, two lanterns on poles to the other end of the gate. The sound of the horses' hooves echoes off the dark tunnel walls as they approached the lighted end of the tunnel.

Coming out, she saw several iron elephants, a barrier and many men with their fire sticks pointing in her direction. She swallowed and stiffened herself, she knew the devastation they could cause.

"I go on alone, stay here," she told her troops.

"Are they green people?" a knight whispered.

"I shall go see." Bozes told her and rode her horse at a walk to meet a single uniform clad man who came over the barriers to meet her. He looked different, with a light blue uniform. She stopped near him and announced, "I am Bozes, royal knight of Empress Pinya. Our land is the Colada Empire. Who are you?"

The man saluted. "General Shaffer of the Los Angeles UN forces. We offer no trouble, but will respond quickly to any threat. What is your business here?"

"To see what is on the other side of the gate, nothing more. I shall report back to our Empress what I have found. Like you, we wish no trouble, but will retaliate of any occurs."

"May we send a representative to your side of the Gate, to ensure no misunderstandings happen?" he asked.

Bozes thought briefly. "You may. I will present them to our Empress."

The man waved and called, "Commander Nishisumi! Front and center!"

A shorter woman with short red hair ran over to him. "Yes sir!"

"Go with this knight and her troop. You will be representing our planet. Take a scooter, find out what you can, then report back."

"Yes, Sir!"

Bosez motioned to one of her Knights. "Marlan, Guide this woman were to go. Take her to see the Empress."

"Yes, Bozes!" she said with a sword salute. "Follow me, please." Marlan took a torch and let the way.

Bozes got off her horse and handed her reins to another Knight. " Sir, if you would give me a description of your people, and land, I will greatly appreciate it."

The General nodded. "Please, come with me." As Bozes walked with him, he said, "We are a world of different countries and cultures, but we all work together under the Guidance of Queen Lucy..."

.

Piya agred to meet with the blue clad woman. The Commander walked in with an escort and bowed to her. "Empress, we come from Earth. This is sudden, so please forgive us, we do not have a proper greeting party. I will answer all I can for you."

Pinya raised and eyebrow, "From Earth you say?' Who is your leader?"

"Queen Lucy, your Majesty."

"Queen, Lucy? Is one of her daughters names Princess Chika?"

"She was, your Majesty. How did you know?"

Pinya leaned forward. "What do you mean, was?"

"She and her family died. The current Crown Princess is named Suzanne."

Pinya grew a smile. She knew what she could do now to help Diane. "Commander. Go and tell Queen Lucy I have a trade for her. Princess Chika and her family is here in our Empire right now. She can have her Crown Princess and her family back, if she sends over Princess Suzanne. This trade is non-negotiable."

The commander winced. "Empress, Queen Lucy does not trade like that. That may cause problems between us. If there is a … ransom, I am sure we can arrange something."

"I don't want your money," Pinya said firmly. "I have learned that Goddess Diane and her family, your Queen holds as criminals. They will not be returning. They want their Goddess Suzanne back. Queen Lucy wants her Crown Princess back. A simple exchange. She gets what she wants, I get what I want."

The commander gaped at her. "You mean … Diane Warren? … a criminal?" she asked in a squeak of shock. "How did THAT happen!"

"I do not know details. I only know what I am telling you," Pinya said firmly. "Once the trade is done, we can discuss other matters. Nothing until then."

Bearing a look of shock, Commander Nishisumi asked weakly, "But, Diane is not a criminal. Far from it. How … How can anyone even think that?"

"Go discuss it with your Queen," Pinya told her. "Knights, please return this woman to her side of the gate."

The woman was led back to the gate wearing a stupefied look. "Diane, a criminal? No! that couldn't be! Miho Nishisumi decided she needed to Contact Suzanne Warren to find out what was going on with them.

.

"She what?" Lucy asked in a hard tone as she glared at the general.

"The ruler beyond the gate, an Empress Pinya, insists we send Princess Suzanne over to them, and they will send Princess Chika and her family back to us." he explained.

Commander Nishisume was also there. "My Queen," she quickly said, "Empress Pinya indicated to me that she feels Princess Diane is thought of here as a criminal, I believe that is her hesitation to send them back to us."

Beside her, Himari grew a tiny grin. Quietly, she said, "It appears Diane and her crew did rescue Chika and her family. Before we do anything else, we should find out the details."

Lucy eyed her. "And if it's a trap?"

"Let Commander Nishisumi go," Himari told her. She knows Suzanne and Diane. She can find out the truth. Remember also, the last transmission Eddie and Diane heard, was declaring them pirates."

Lucy frowned. "Yes, Commander, you will return through the Gate and inform the Empress of your mission to find out the whole story. Let Diane and her crew know that are not considered criminals as long as they deliver Chika and her family. You have one week to find your information and return, or else we will run over that Empire and go find our family by ourselves."

"Yes, My Queen." Nihisume said with a bow, then hurried out.

Lucy then looked at one of their servants. "Find Princess Suzanne for me. Tell her it's urgent."


	8. Chapter 8

CH 8

The day after the birth, Muyi came out in a wheeled chair, holding baby Consetta. Devin and Muyi beamed everyone proud smiles. Muyi has a nice birthday with special attention paid to little Consetta. Upon seeing baby Consetta, Diane saw why. She also felt why. Consetta was a Diclonius.

Muyi beamed a big smile at Diane. Chika cast Diane a stare.

Seeing Chika's hard look, Diane said, "It wasn't me."

Chika raised an eyebrow. "Who else has been spending time with the Countess?" she asked.

Diane thought back. All it took was a touch. She had not thought about being careful around Muyi. She winced.

"Goddess we thank you for the wonderful gift you have bestowed upon us," Muyi said reverently.

"Diane will also assist you in raising and training your daughter," Chika added with a false smile. "Won't you, Diane?"

"Of course she will," Bill said, beaming a smile at Diane that said she had better.

"Yes, please," Muyi agreed.

Awww hell! Diane nodded. She had no choice. She had to make sure Consetta was taught properly, having human parents. Her and Suzanne were the only girls she knew that grew up with human parents, and she had the feeling Devin an Muyi being 'royal', would not take the pains with Consetta like their Daddy did. She also didn't think someone like Lady Stellano would survive taking care of Consetta. She bowed to Muyi and said, "It would be an honor to assist you."

"Such a wonderful day," Muyi said with a sigh.

"Then we shall name Goddess Diane as Consetta's God Mother!" Devin happily announced. He announcement was met with cheers and congratulations.

Diane looked around to see what Pinya thought about that. Some time, Pinya had slipped away. Oh well, Diane would explain it to her later on.

In the afternoon, Diane noted Myui was getting tired. Devin was seeing it, but tried to act politically correct. Diane had no such filters.

"OK, everyone!" Diane announced loudly. "Countess Muyi is honored that we all came to share this special day with her, but now she's really tired, so if you will excuse us." She then took the handles to the wheel chair and had Devin show her to Muyi's rooms.

No one questioned her.

.

There was a roar in side the gate at the Empire end. A motorcycle rumbled out with the Knight, Bozes on the back, her arms around Commander Nishisumi. Nishisumi pulled to the defense line and stopped.

Bozes announced, "I have vital news for our Empress, stand aide!"

Men moved and the barrier opened, Bozes had Nishisume ride through right up to the palace steps.

Pinya met them as they were coming down the hallway. Both women snapped to attention. "Empress!" Bozes announced. "I have seen the other side. They are like the green people, and do not want a conflict, however, Commander Nishshi…." getting tongue tied, she said, "The Commander here has a vital Mission from their Queen."

Miho snapped her salute. "Empress, I have been given the task to learn from all our Princesses what happened to them. I have been given one week to do so. Please forgive my urgency, but I have been given a time limit of one week."

"Or, there will be trouble," Pinya guessed.

"Yes, your Majesty."

Pinya figured it was something like that. "Very well, Bozes, escort the Commander to Itallica. In Countess Formar's palace is where they are. Inform the guard force there I sent you."

"Yes, your Majesty!" Both women then hurried back the way they came.

Pinya looked out at the small device they got back on. The commander got on the front seat, Bozes got on the back and put her arms around the Commander. A rumble and they took off faster than any horse, or anything she'd ever seen, raising a cloud of dust behind them. Pinya could see why Bozes held on. That thing was fast. One of her generals asked, "Empress, should we follow them?"

Pinya replied, "Only to be sure they do not tumble and fall off that thing and make sure they get to Itallica." She had a good feeling that the Commander knew Diane, so it was safe to let her go on her mission.

.

Miho followed Bozes directions as fast as possible. Some places they were flying along the road. Coming upon a train in front of them, Miho blew by it at 130 KPH. In other places, the road wasn't as smooth, so she had to slow down to not hit ridges in the road and steer around the larger holes.

Bozes herself was liking this mechanical horse. It was powerful, fast, and didn't tire out. Even having to slow down here and there, they still made Itallica in a few hours instead of the normal two day travel. A dragon rider had been above them, now he was far behind them, trying to catch up. Before long, the gates of Itallica came into view.

.

Down on the first floor patio by the garden, Diane and Eddie were talking to a few of Muyi's engineers about the engine they made with Allani and a couple Pinya's advisors listening in. Their conversation was halted by a noise.

Allani perked her long ears up. "What is that?" she asked, and looked at the corner of the building.

"A motorcycle?" Eddie asked.

Diane looked to see a motorcycle rumbling around the corner with a rider in a UN uniform with a Knight on the back. The rider pulled close, then dropped the kickstand. The Knight got off the back. The rider took her helmet off and beamed the crowd a smile. "Eddie, Diane! It's good to see you guys!"

Diane's jaw dropped. "Miho! How did YOU get here?" She then ran over to give Miho a hug.

"I just rode the bike. Diane, we got a problem, do you know where Princess Chika is?" Miho asked.

"Yeah, she's here …. someplace. We pulled them off that transport before it was destroyed, then had to go through a black hole. HOW did you get here on a motorcycle?"

"Through the Gate-tunnel."

"It's OPEN?" Diane asked, wide-eyed.

"Yes, and Empress Pinya wants to exchange Princess Chika for Princess Suzanne," Miho explained. "Is she holding Princess Chika captive or something?"

"No!" Diane cried. "Whatever gave you that crazy idea?"

"That's what it sounded like. Anyway, Queen Lucy gave me a time limit to get Princess Chika back with her family."

"That don't sound good," Eddie noted.

"UGH!" Diane grumbled. "OK, we gather everyone up and get back on Wolverine. You saw it around front, Miho?"

"We will ensure it, Goddess," Queen Allani stated. Loudly, she called, "Everyone, pass the word, All who came on Wolverine, return to the ship!"

"Yeah, let's GO!" Diane called. "Miho, bring your bike."

Eddie hurried through the palace to the servant's lounge where he found a few men, Zhena and Polimare. "Guys, we're leaving now! Everyone to the ship!" he yelled.

Some servants thought he meant them as well. Three butlers and four Rabbits girls followed after him in the pack.

Jumping the palace, Diane got to the ship first. Seeing the crowd coming, she decided she needed to do some traffic control. She had Miho and Bozes wait by the side of the ramp. "Eddie, get on, startup and warmup!" she told him. "Polimare, like before, transport people in back, Chika's family up front, direct them once they're on."

Seeing a rabbit girl with one of the guards she held up a hand to them. "Stop! Why is she here?"

The rabbit girl clasped her hands in a plea. "He's wonderful, can I go too… Please?"

Screw it, they could sort it out later. Diane jerked a thumb behind her. "Go in the back!"

The couple hurried on. Once Diane had everyone but a few waiters on, she had Miho and Bozes get on, then pulled the motorcycles up the ramp backwards and left it in the air lock. Diane shut the inner door, then jumped on the drivers' seat.

Wolverine took off.

.

Suzanne headed for lunch and head a frantic call of, "Where's Suzanne?"

"Princess Suzanne will be coming…" A waiter said, correcting the woman, and she yelled over him.

"SUZ! It's Erwin, where are you? We gotta go!"

Suzanne flew down the steps. "Erwin?" she asked.

The short blonde in the UN space force turned to her. "There you are! We gotta go, the Gate to that other world is open and Queen Lucy said to get you there now. Come on!"

They ran outside to see another Space Tank sitting in the driveway, ramp down on the steps. Of course, there was a cartoon picture of a Hippo over the hatch and the roman numeral three.

"Hippo three," Suzanne noted.

"Of course!" Erwin beamed. "I even got my own platoon. Queen Lucy said ASAP, so we gotta hurry."

Suzanne remembered the last time that Gate opened. She ran up onto Hippo three, bracing herself for combat if needed.

"Need me to work something?" Suzanne asked as Erwin jumped in the commander's seat.

"Nope, just grab a seat and hang on, we're in a hurry."

.

Coming upon the gate area, Eddie noted it as crowded as the inside of Wolverine and everyone was looking up at him. He got on the external speaker and yelled, "EVERYBODY, MOVE!"

With Wolverine coming down, they did, fleeing to the sides. It was still a tight fit to land between the barriers and the Gate entrance. Eddie had the ramp down with the landing gear and settled into position. Diane got off, Miho rode her motorcycle unpowered down the ramp. Everyone filled off.

"Wow, we can just fly through! No more black hole!" Polimare said happily.

Eddie looked at the gate tunnel, then at Wolverine. "Ahh, I don't think we're going to fit."

"Let's be sure we have the right time period before anyone goes through," Diane cautioned loud enough for everyone to hear.

Miho offered, "I can go through."

"I hear something coming," a rabbit woman said, pointing at the tunnel.

Eddie listened. Sure enough an engine noise was getting louder. "Two?" he wondered aloud.

Diane said, "Yes two sets of headlights."

In the clear space left, a pair of army transports pulled in and stopped. A few soldiers and white robes appeared. Then Suzanne and Queen Lucy appeared to face Chika, her family, Diane and Eddie.

"You did it!" Suzanne yelled happily she ran over to Bill hugged him, then Chika then grabbed Diane and Eddie together and hugged them to her. Sobbing happily she again cried, "You did it!" Lady Himari and Queen Lucy joined the hug-fest.

Empress Pinya also came down into the landing area. She waved her guards to the sides. She waited patiently for the happy hugs to be completed.

Finishing their hugs, Lucy kept an arm around Chika as she announced, "Princess Chika is one again the Crown Princess. Princess Suzanne, you have been relieved of that duty."

"Yes!" Suzanne, Diane and Eddie cried in unison. Polimare and Zhena cheered.

Lucy looked at Wolverine, then Suzanne, and asked, "Fleet Admiral Warren, how will you get your ship back? I do not think it will go through the Gate."

Suzanne wondered that herself.

"We came through a black hole," Chika explained, "And things have gotten a little more complicated since we arrived." she said, and looked at Diane.

Diane bit her lip and hoped this wasn't going to sound as bad as she thought.

Suzanne eyed Diane. "What did you do?" she asked.

Thinking quickly, Diane offered, "Hey we can just go back the way we came, and everyone else can just leave through the gate, right?"

"And be lost for another five years? Unacceptable," Lucy stated. "What has gotten complicated since you arrived?"

Diane shrugged. "Nothing really. Muyi had her baby…"

"Diane," Bill said in an even tone eyeing her.

Flailing her arms up and dropping them, Diane said, "Hokay, she happens to be a diclinous."

"How did that happen?" Lucy asked in an even tone that was almost a growl.

Pinya spoke up. "If I may, your Majesty," she said to get their attention. Coming closer she said, "I am Empress Pinya Colada. Goddess Diane has done wonders for our Empire, the people are happier now with the help she had provided, our lands are more prosperous and the people are grateful for her assistance. Everything she had done had been with the intent to enrich our people."

"You are the one who demanded a trade with my own people?" Lucy asked evenly as she glared at Pinya.

Motioning to Diane and Eddie, she said, "Goddess Diane wanted her sister back, and you wanted to get Goddess Chika and her family back. Did you not want the same?"

"Mom, I think the Empress had the right idea, just worded badly," Chika offered.

"Apparently so," Lucy agreed. She turned to Diane. "So Diane, explain to me how this Countess, is it, had a Diclonuis child."

"It could have been me," Suzanne offered. "The last time we were here, we did spend much time with Countess Muyi Formar. She was very young and in need of guidance."

Lucy shifted her gaze to Suzanne then Diane. "And now her child will need guidance," she stiffly. "I swear your two perform miraculous things, then follow it up with great mischief! Very well. It appears this time, Fleet Admiral Warren, you and your crew need to remain here. The Gate will remain open this time in case there is an emergency. As far as any contact or trade, that will be worked out later, as will visitations. Empress Pinya, I expect your representative will come meet with Fleet Admiral Warren here to make arrangements. If the Gate closes, Admiral, you are to bring your crew home, however you can get there."

"Understood, my Queen," Suzanne said firmly.

"Empress Pinya," Lucy snapped. "If the Admiral or her crew perform any mischief while in your lands, I expect to be notified immediately."

"Of course, your Majesty," Pinya agreed. "I shall keep a close watch on them."

"Chika, we must be going," Lucy told her. They filed into one of the transports. It turned around and left.

Staying behind, Lady Himari went over to Suzanne and whispered in her ear. Suzanne nodded. "Thank you, Mom," she replied quietly.

Lady Himari then cast a grin at Diane and got into the other transport with the crew and guards from Chika's transport that had gotten destroyed, and the soldiers that came. The rabbit girls crowded around the door, and after a moment of discussion, they were let on. That transport left.

"Well, that could have gone worse," Eddie noted with a sigh of relief.

Pinya frowned at them. "What's this with Countess Formar's baby?" she asked.

Suzanne explained. "Muyi had a diclonius baby from the contact she had with us. That means her child will be like myself and Diane. She will need extra guidance, and minor surgery to ensure she does not die at an early age, and will be able to have children of her own." A glance at Diane, and she added, "This happened accidentally, but it happened."

Pinya smiled and offered, "Perhaps the Gods decided it should be. Just like when the Gate opens, no one knows how, or why. I believe powers greater than us are guiding us. That is the reason you came to us, and why I even survived. We must trust in these powers."

Suzanne returned her smile. "Perhaps you are right," she agreed. Taking a glance at Wolverine, she asked, "Empress, After you get things settled here, perhaps you would like a ride home? It will be faster for you."

Pinya looked at Wolverine. She'd almost been jealous that last time they were here, Muyi had gotten a ride on that fantastic beast. "Yes, if you would please, Goddess."

Bozes and one of her knights insisted in riding with the Empress for her protection.

Suzanne got Empress Pinya sitting in the front so she could see out the open view screen, Bozes on one side and a dark haired knight, Penenlopy on the other.

"We are pretty high up here, it's a good view," Penelopy noted.

"It will get better," Diane replied with a smirk.

Suzanne closed the airlock doors and took her seat. She smiled at being in the command seat of Wolverine again. We ready to fly?" she asked.

"Fly?" Penelopy asked.

Eddie, Diane and Zhena all announced ready. Suzanne told Eddie, take it up slow and get clear of these people, then let's show Empress Pinya her whole empire."

"Lifting off." Eddie said. "40,000?"

"That's good for a start," Suzanne agreed.

They lifted up. Penelopy gasped. "We're going up in the air! … we're going higher!"

"Four thousand, we're going ten times that high," Eddie told her.

"What if we fall?" Penelopy cried.

"We won't, we've done this a lot," Diane told her, wearing a grin.

The ground dropped away. Pinya and Bozes leaned forward looking out the front view screen in amazement. Penelopy whined and shut her eyes.

"Afraid of heights?" Pinya asked.

Penelopy nodded.

"Polimare, could you take Penelopy back into the kitchen area?" Suzanne asked.

Polimare went up to Penelopy and clasped her hands. "Come with me, back here," she coaxed.

Penelopy Banard, sword fighting expert, deadly with the new crossbows and a champion lancer raking second in the jousting tournament, quivered and let Polimare lead her in the back so she didn't have to see the people shrink down into tiny ant-size as they climbed up in the sky.

Both Pinya and Bozes had their faces pasted to the forward view screen.

"Let us know if there is anything you want to see, Empress," Suzanne told her.

"Yes, the northern mountains!" Pinya replied eagerly.

Eddie flew around, first to the northern mountains to drop down so they were in easy sight, then across the hills then plains beyond. The sea shores to the west and southwest was another thing Pinya had been eager to see. Eddie flew along following the shore for a while, people fishing on the shore and in boats looked up as they flew by overhead. Not seeing any land out to sea, Pinya wanted to know how big this ocean was. Eddie lifted up to 10,000 and flew out to sea. Pinya was amazed once they left land, there was no land in sight at all.

Zhena spoke up. "Suz, I have multiple contacts bearing 286, a mass of them. By the weak returns, they are sailing ships."

"Eddie, change course, head for those ships. Raise to 20,000," Suzanne told him.

It wasn't long before Diane spotted them. "I got them on visual," she announced, and showed the image on the overhead screen. They were lines of three masted sailing ships. Canon peeked out of the sides of the ships.

"Warships," Suzanne stated. "Pinya, do you recognize them?"

Pinya sat back and looked up. The image focused on the flag they were flying. A base red flag with a triangular shield with a lion depicted in it. "The Haplan Empire!" she spat. "They sent some troops to pillage our coast a few years back. Where are they going?"

Suzanne said, "Eddie, get above them, Zhena, get a course and speed."

"Counting sixty five ships," Diane noted. "From what I can see, all troop carriers and armed."

Eddie announced, "Station keeping above the lead ships."

Zhena announced, "Fleet speed, seven knots, course 172. If they maintain course and speed, they will be at the shores of Pinya's Empire in five days."

Pinya stiffened. "They have come to pillage us again!"

"By the size of that fleet, they have come to invade," Suzanne noted. "Zhena, you have the area they are most likely to land at?"

"Yes, a sandy beach runs along that shore."

"Eddie, make for Pinya's capitol city, fast," Suzanne told him.

"I have to gather my troops," Pinya stated. "We need to get prepared for them!"

"You will, We'll help. Myui's machines should help also," Suzanne told her.

Despite the land racing by below, Pinya frowned and said, "That is a far section of our Empire, it will take weeks to get substantial forces into the area!"

"As I said, we will help with that," Suzanne told her. We'll work it out."

"Coming upon Pinya's palace, slowing," Eddie told them.

Pinya turned to Suzanne. "Thank you for that, Goddess. Fliers and machines first?"

"Suzanne nodded. "As I said we'll work out the details. Eddie, you and Diane drop us off and head for Itallica. Gather forces there. Dragons, every machine capable is to go to the coast. Tell Myui and have her spread the word, then got to the Gate and let them know. Bring back what you can to pick me up."

"You got it, Suz."

"Bozes," Pinya said, looking at her knight. "Go to the Gate, recall all machines and the fighters they can carry back to the Capitol city. Once we make our plans, we will direct them further. Commandeer a train to help."

"Yes, Empress," Bozes replied firmly.

Eddie dropped down in the courtyard of Pinya's palace to the shock of some guards.

.

Suzanne followed Pinya to her 'war room', a room set with maps and the positions of her forces, which were at the moment all over the Empire, mostly doing guard duty.

Pointing at the map, Pinya said, "I have three divisions that can get to that area in less than five days. None of them have machines, and only two squads of dragons."

"That will be a start," Suzanne agreed. "It's best they don't realize we know they are coming. We'll do the scouting and try to let you know where they are going to land. They have gunpowder, canon and possibly rifles too. Your troops will have to hide and surprise them. That will keep the ships from firing their canons for as long as possible. Dragons carrying burning oil dropped onto the ships will also help, once the ships are unloading men. If they are committed to fighting, keeping them from running away will be much easier."

Pinya cast Suzanne a surprised look. "Keep them from running? At the moment I'll be happy if we can muster the forces to stop them."

"You already have an advantage," Suzanne said firmly. You know how many, when they are arriving and where. Most likely, they are not expecting to meet another army right on the beaches. That's why you hide your forces. Pre-range your canon and arrow fire to hit where they are going to be. They will be forming up out of their small boats, and you'll be hitting them. Send the dragons out to drop burning oil on their ships after you attack their men on the beaches. Their ships will be stopped, luckily at anchor. That will make them easy targets."

Pinya cast a firm look at Suzanne. "Goddess, You have much experience at leading troops in war. I ask that you be my lead General."

"You're not sure about the tactics?' Suzanne asked.

"I'm not," Pinya admitted. "I would like to learn from you."

"Then I shall guide you, Empress."

.

While Pinya made Suzanne the overall commander, and sent dragon riders out to inform the divisions and get them moving to the coast, Bozes and most of the forces that could quickly move, headed away from the Gate and towards the coast. A train full of soldiers, dragons in flight an Muyi's steel tanks all headed out in long lines.

That night, Suzanne and her crew checked on the fleet. They were still headed in the same direction, a little slowed due to the wind dying down, but they were aiming at the same beach area. Looking at the course, this beach was the closest point of the Colada Empire they could get to.

Looking down on the fleet, Diane noted, "We could fry every one of those ships with laser and there's nothing they could do about it."

"We could," Suzanne agreed. "Pinya needs combat experience so she will be able to handle any other attacks that come up when we're not here. She nor her soldiers won't get that if we do it all for them."

.

On the beach at night, a small seeming underage girl that was nearly 1000 years old stood shoulder high to the man beside, her, her large scythe in one had. Th man was thin and wore a black cloak over him, He carried a spear with a long head and a brass ball on the other end.

The man asked, "Rory, what are we doing here? Sunbathing in the morning?"

Rory grinned and wiggled her hips, "Ohhh, Itami, don't you feel it?" she asked in a musical tone. "Soon, there will be death here, lots of death! I want to make sure we don't miss it."

"Death and sex, your two most favorite things," Itami monotoned.

"They are," she agreed, grinning at him. "We do channel the souls on, don't you feel that when they pass thought us?" she asked and shivered in delight.

Itami looked up into the sky. "Something is over us."

"Yes," Rory cooed. "The Goddesses of Death and War are up there. They have returned and they will be living up to their names. Cuddling up against him she giggled. "There will be blood," she intoned.

.

Over the coast those ships were headed for, Suzanne scrutinized the land below. She noted a couple hills bracketing the long beach. Behind the beaches were the huts and workshops of the civilians. She had Eddie land behind ont of the hills, away from the sea. They had to get some rest before they began kicking the villagers out of their homes. First, she wanted to spend some time with Eddie. It had been way too long.

That night, Eddie paid special attention to Suzanne, Diane giving assisting pets. Suzanne was so happy she wept. Finally, she was with her family, as they should be.


	9. Chapter 9

CH 9

In the morning, the first of Pinya's soliders, a cavalry brigade, arrived in the seaside village. The Captain knew Suzanne was the area commander. She had him gather the villagers, then explained to them this area was going to be a warzone in a few days. If people weren't fighting or helping to fight, to pack up and move for their own safety. Suzanne was sure the civilians would flee.

They didn't. Men, older boys and many of the women vowed to fight the coming invaders. They wanted to defend their homes. Suzanne had the women and girls help the old and the very young get set to travel. The boys she put on coast watch, along the beaches and up on the hills facing the ocean. If they saw the tall sails of ships, they were to run back and inform her immediately.

The men joined the soldiers in digging. Sand traps, dig a hole above the high tide line and cover it thinly to make leg-break traps. in the dunes beyond, hollows were deepened and 'shooting pits' were made. Fishermen laid lines out to lay down fences that when the lines attached to them were pulled, the fence rose up and locked in place to aim at an attacker's belly. These fences were covered with a thin layer of sand.

All day, soldiers and villagers worked. Another whole Regiment of cavalry came in and two companies of Knights. Just before nightfall, a platoon of five of Myui's steam tanks rolled into the building defenses. Suzanne had them set back from the beach and covered with grass to obscure them.

A check on the fleet that night showed they were keeping course, a slight increase in wind made them now approaching at eight knots.

The third day, more heavy equipment arrived. Suzanne put the canon, trebuchets and tanks on the upper back sides of hills, and had them fire practice shots into the water so they would see where the shots landed. The dragon riding troops that came, Suzanne had them go inland and practice dropping rocks onto targets on the ground from high up. While they did this, females from the village made clay pots, filled them with lamp oil and capped the tops with rags.

Again, a check of the fleet showed it was closer, still the same course and speed.

The fourth day, Pinya arrived with Devon from Itallica and a significant portion of their more mobile forces. Suzanne directed Devon to form beach defenses like she'd been doing, and assign half their tanks and all the cavalry into a reserve position mid-line. Currently, they had 1900 men on the font line and another thousand in reserve set to join whatever part of the line that needed them.

The end of the fourth day, Suzanne took a walk with her crew by the water, making sure none of their defenses could be seen from the water. They had a mile and a half of beach covered by their defenses, and scouts out beyond each end for half a mile. A road train also came in with another 500 troops and 48 steam canons that hidden positions were made for.

That night, the fleet was close. Zhena's best guess was they would arrive around 1 PM, and dead i the middle of their defensive positions. After scouting out the fleet, Suzanne called a high level meeting in the 'command hut' Pinya was occupying.

Standing in the front with Pinya beside her, Suzanne said, "They are coming. We expect them to show up right after lunchtime. Once they are in sight, everyone keep low ready your weapons and wait for word to shoot. The first horn, shoot the men on the beaches. Dragon riders, take to the air, fly high over the ships. Drop your burning oil down on them from as high as you can. Each rider has eight bottles. When you use all those, go back for more. The reserves will be deployed as needed, but not until they are needed. Any questions?" There were none. "Then plan on battle mid day tomorrow, Inform your men, get some rest. Dismissed."

Suzanne then turned to Pinya. "Empress, I've set up the best defenses I can. Keep studying the situation, stay on top of what's happening. I think you will do fine."

"Me?" Pinya asked.

Suzanne nodded. "Believe in yourself and your troops. You can do it. You see why I set up our defenses like this?"

"Yes, you set up an ambush for the invaders," Pinya stated.

"Initial plans only survive for the first few minutes of the battle," Suzanne told her. "After they realize we're set up and waiting for them, they will no longer be trying to just walk onto land. Their ships being bombed from above and their men catching heavy fire, they will alter their plan. They may retreat, they may try to our flank you. Be ready, if one of your generals has a plan, listen and consider if it will work."

Pinya swallowed. "The only battle I fought was at Itallica. I lost..."

"No," Suzanne said firmly. "You had too few soldiers and only townsmen to fight with. This time, you have more soldiers and new weapons. Those soldiers and those weapons need to be tested in combat for you, and for the ones using them. Like I said, keep your awareness of the battle up, lead the battle. Don't just let it happen, MAKE it happen."

"Where will you be?" Pinya asked.

Suzanne pointed up. "Watching."

Pinya looked ready to cry. "You said you'd lead us in this fight."

"I am. You part is managing the land forces once the battle is engaged. Pinya, you can do it. We will beat these bastards," Suzanne insisted.

.

Early in the morning, Diane stopped by and gave Pinya a hand held radio and showed her how to use it then headed back to Wolverine and they took off. Eddie parked them at 30,000 feet. There were few clouds in the sky, the approaching fleet on the water below was in clear view. From here, it was like watching snails crawl. Below, men on the ground got into position. The fleet sailed up close to the shore in three lines. Sails and ancors lowered. Suzanne got on the radio. "Empress, they are studying the land. Boats are being lowered."

Pinya replied. "The ships are just outside canon range."

"The small boats won't be. Sit tight," Suzanne told her.

"We burn a few?" Diane asked.

"Not unless they try to sail away," Suzanne told her.

Watching the long boats being rowed to shore, Suzanne noted there were many of them. Each ship was releasing four boats. While many of them were on their way to the beach, many were also working to get out from the middle of the fleet. Suzanne watched as the first boats beached, disgourging the first mass of men.

"Diane, see that long line of boats at the shore? Toast them with a laser."

"You got is Suz."

Below, the canon and arrow fire had just begun. the confusion of the men around the boats increased as a pale beam ran down the line, splitting boats with fire incinerating whole men and parts of men. Water at the boats burst into steam, making a long cloud at the shoreline. The blasts of canon continued, throwing up sand and another rain of arrows dropped into them. The boats yet to make shore paused, their rowers staring.

"Here come the dragons," Eddie noted.

Coming high from the left a flight of 30 dragons and riders flew over the fleet and dropped smoking bottles down on the parked ships. Below a few small boats turned around. Many of the falling bottles hit sails and masts, spreading a curtain of fire down on ships. One landed in a boat. They men in armor piled out to save themselves and sank from their weight to drown. After the dragon riders passed by, ship crews were hurrying to extinguish the fires. The topside of a ship closest to the shore blasted out an explosion that took down two of the three masts. More men dove into the water, that ship would soon be a burning wreck.

Suzanne watched as the enemy at the shore tried to fight back, and charged. The pit traps worked, then a fence was lifted in front of a large pack, stopping them short as the leaders were impaled. Arrows and a couple canon rounds ripped into them. It didn't take long for the survivors to back off and gather together under their shields. Muskets came out and fired a volley. With all the Colada men under cover, only a couple got wounded. A canon shot a heavy rock into the men, breaking their shield wall, and more arrows poured in. The attempted charge retreated.

More boats landed and men piled out to struggle through the debris, dead and screaming wounded. Suzanne noted something.

"Pinya, on your right, small boats are moving to flank."

"Have they all come ashore?" Pinya asked.

"No, about half of them. They are split from coming straight on, to flanking to your right. I see dragons coming out for another run on the ships."

Below them, Suzanne saw smoke roll off a ship as it's canons fired. "Diane, kill that ship."

Diane centered the bottom laser on the ship and fired, then tracked across it. The ship exploded, sending debris flinging into other ships as it came apart. Within a minute there was nothing left on the water other than debris and men trying to swim.

Seeing another ship hoist it's sails, Suzanne had Diane kill that one next.

Where the small boats landed on the right, a dozen Muyi tanks came out, puffing steam and shooting arrows as they came. Men lined up, they fired their muskets which bounced off the armored casings. Those men ran as the tanks came on. Some attackers ran into the water, managed to dodge and not get completely run over. Those who tried to run straight away were ran over and killed. The tanks turned in a wide swing and came back at them. Many men grabbed boats and tried to escape into the surf. Arrows from men behind the dunes drove into them. The tanks ran through and crushed a few more men, including a leader who was trying to rally them.

Suzanne noted two more ships raise their sails as more bombs were dropped by dragon riders. She had Diane burn them both. Another exploded, wiping out other ship's sails and rigging.

More small boats were out in the fleet now, tied to their ships and trying to pull them away. On the ocean side of the fleet, Suzanne had Diane burn every ship that tried to move. From the land, canons aimed high and lobbed rocks down on the ships closest to them.

As the fight went on, fewer and fewer enemy men tried to attack. They stayed low, hugging the sand. The fleet was being destroyed from firebombs dropped by dragons. On the side away from land, ships burned due to Diane shooting down on them.

On the right flank, Cavalry led by Boze's Knights charged down into the beach. The remaining men there surrendered and were taken prisoner.

The ships capable tried to flee. Being inside the ring of fire of other burning ships, they had to try and navigate their way out. With Wolverine burning any who tried, and dragons appearing overhead to drop more oil bombs on them, no one was making it. In the smoke and screaming, One ship did get clear. The Captain didn't even care which was he was headed, he used the thick cloud of smoke overhead to hide his ship from above and sailed in the direction of the strongest wind until night time.

.

Darkness had fallen, the many ships ablaze lit the shores with an orange light. On the beaches, Pinya's troops were supervising the prisoners digging holes for burying the dead. Wolverine sat nearby as Pinya and Suzanne scanned the work being done. Besides the debris in the water, many bodies floated.

Suzanne told Pinya. "After the sun went down, I counted four ships that got away. One was burned, but survived, they only had two masts. When they return to their port, I'm sure they will inform their superiors what happened here. I doubt they will come back any time soon."

Pinya nodded. "This wasn't a battle, it was a massacre. We destroyed them, and only lost one Dragon and rider and some others were wounded. If the enemy aren't dead, they are prisoners."

"Told you we wouldn't let them get away," Suzanne replied with a smirk.

Pinya smiled. "It was your tactics that let us defeat them."

"I only watched," Suzanne said with a shrug. Hearing a cooing noise, Suzanne looked to see a thin man in black, carrying a girl in a bride's carry who was squirming happily in his arms.

The girl looked at Suzanne. "Ohh, greetings Goddess of Death and War! It was sooo nice to see you again."

"Greetings, Rory," Pinya called.

"Such a battle!" Rory cooed and rubbed her legs together, "That was a fine victory, Empress."

Suzanne remembered who this was. "Greetings, Rory, Demi-Goddess of Emory. I see you attained Lt. Yoji as your boyfriend.

Releasing Itami's neck with one arm, Rory pointed a finger up and said, "He is my apprentice. And such a good one he is!"

"I am happy for you," Suzanne said, noting the girl was having a good time with Lt. Yoji.

"I miss my manga," Itami complained.

Suzanne snorted out a chuckle and offered, "You do have your own Gothic Lolita. Can't have everything."

.

The battle took most of the day. Cleaning up afterward took another two days. While the prisoners became slave labor to get the worst work done, Pinya, her officers and the Wolverine crew inspected these 'muskets' they had. Eddie knew how the flint locks worked. He showed the gaggle of royalty and officers how to load then fire one.

"They take so long to load, what real good are they?" Bozes asked.

"Not very good speed wise," Eddie replied. "A good bowman can get three or four arrows off before this thing can be loaded and shot. I bet even a crossbow is faster to shoot." Pointing to the end he added, "That's why there's a knife on the end, it can also be used as a spear. They are good for accuracy, and if refined, range."

"I don't think you want to mess with powder guns anyway, at least for a while," Suzanne said. "Those ships that blew up? Fires on board ignited the black powder on board. You want explosions to happen into the enemy, and not you."

"Explosive shells for canons would work," Diane said in a mussing tone. "For ejecting them, steam is a little safer and you can use it to drive vehicles also."

"Can you make those?" Bozes asked.

Diane shrugged. "Maybe. You game, Eddie?"

"Always, for you, dear," Eddie replied with a grin.

.

With their stunning victory, Pinya's generals gathered to praise their Empress for her quick reaction and superb battlefield guidance. Troops were still coming to fight the threat, and the battle was over, the enemy beaten soundly. It was decided that a party would be held in honor of Empress Pinya at her palace. Since the generals were calling for it and Pinya knew it was the politically correct thing to do, she agreed. She also insisted Suzanne, at least needed to come, preferably her whole crew.

Suzanne wanted to talk to some of these prisoners before they were divided up for spoils between the three divisions that did the fighting. Pinya agreed and gave her a letter so she was able to speak with them.

The first bunch of 20 men she found were dirty and chained together, casting their captors hollow looks. They had just finished burying hundreds of their fellow soldiers. The Slave detail Captain went with her to see the captured men sitting down on the ground.

"Slaves! On your feet!" he barked. A couple guards prodded them up to stand.

Suzanne walked up to a beaten looking, heavily bearded man. "Who are you?" she asked.

He lifted his eyes briefly. "Dak Naller," he said quietly.

"Where are you from and what position did you hold in your army?" she asked.

"Home was west of River City, I'm just a soldier."

"Where's your officer?"

"Dead, got an arrow through his eye. Sargent's down there," he said tipping his head to the others.

"His name?"

"Sargent Dax."

Suzanne looked over the other men. "Sargent Dax!"

A man with a scrub beard glanced at her. She walked over to him. "You are Sargent Dax?" she asked.

"Was," he said tightly.

"What was your mission here?"

He let out a snort. "Make the beach, secure the area. That's all I was told."

"Why so many ships?" Suzanne asked him.

He shook his head. "Lady, I just do what I'm told and try to keep my squad alive. I heard this was to be some grand operation. All it was, was a grand slaughter."

"Yes, your leaders betrayed you, they led you into that slaughter. What did they think was going to happen?"

"Gain more land for the empire, what else?" he asked. "Heard about a raid here a few yars ago, they came back with plenty of stuff. Women, girls, fishing boats, metal, even some gold and silver. Ate good too, from what I was told. I guess we were expecting the same."

They came to pillage on a grand scale. They deserved to be in chains. "All you and the remains of your men get, is to be slaves now," Suzanne stated. "Enjoy your rewards."

Suzanne visited another group. In this one, there was one man who stood tall, despite the chains on him and his ragged clothes. She walked up to him. "Who are you?" she asked.

Staring ahead, not looking at her, he didn't speak.

"I asked you a question," Suzanne said firmly.

"I do not speak to common wenches!" he announced.

Suzanne gave him a light rib shot with a mind hand, that knocked him over. On the ground , he gritted his teeth in pain. She pulled him over to her. Standing over him, she said, 'You will answer, or you will suffer."

The man groaned and stayed quiet.

"If I break your leg, you'll be worthless even as a slave," she warned.

"Kill me!" he wailed. "I will not speak!"

Suzanne picked him up with her mind hands and bade him stand. "You think you're royalty, I take it?" she asked.

He gasped a breath from the pain but didn't answer. She punched him in the same spot. He cried out and tried to fold. She kept him upright. "Well?" she prodded. "Want another?"

The man beside him loudly announced, "He's Prince Edward the second!"

Suzanne smacked him across the cheek, knocking him down. "Prince Edward, huh? Let me guess, you were leading this attack hoping to get some fame and glory for yourself? Maybe make daddy realize you were good for something?"

Prince Edward glared at her. "I demand to speak with your King!"

"You demand nothing of me," Suzanne said calmly. "I will inform our Empress you are here. Until then you may rest." She pulled his feet out from under him and gave him a push to fall flat on his back hard, eliciting another cry of pain.

"Don't move," Suzanne warned and walked off to find Pinya. She knew Pinya insisted on respect to royalty, so she didn't break his legs.

.

One thing Pinya knew well was politics. She had Prince Edward taken on a stretcher to a private tent and had his ribs wrapped up and he was given a painkiller. Once he was as comfortable as she could make him, she had him brought to her tent and sat as he was lifted into a chair facing her. Suzanne was by Pinya's side. Bozes and Penelopy to his sides.

Pinya studied her drink as she said, "Prince Edward, you did not identify yourself to Goddess Suzanne. Why is that?"

"Empress, I will not speak to a common wench," he stated.

Pinya eyed him. "In this case a Goddess was speaking to you. You were required to answer! The wounds you suffered are of your own doing. If Suzanne wanted, she could crush you like a bug. It is only her respect for me that you are still alive. I suggest you be more respectful from here on out. Now, who is it I send your ransom to?"

"There will be no ransom. If I was weak enough to fail, then I am on my own."

"You are worthless to me?" Pinya asked.

"I have failed and disgraced my King. Yes, I am worthless to you," Richard stated.

Pinya nodded slowly. "Very well. Bozes, obtain a block and a sharp axe. Prince Richard has performed an unprovoked attack on our Empire. His sentence is death by beheading. After the beheading, his body is to be incinerated, the ashes scattered."

Bozes bowed. "As you wish, Empress. I shall make the arrangements."

"Empress, since he is a dead man anyway," Suzanne said in a musing tone. "May I have a look into his mind? We may discover what end his King has planned for us."

"Will he still be alive for his beheading?" Pinya asked.

"He will."

"Proceed."

Edward gaped at Suzanne. Quickly, he said, "Empress, you cannot allow this! I am a Prince, I demand to be treated as such!"

"You are," Pinya replied. "No harm shall come to you and you will be treated with respect until your execution."

Suzanne reached out with a mind hand and read his mind. She spoke what she found. "His father, Richard the First is on the throne. He and Richard here were sure this land was lightly defended and ripe for takeover. The 64 ship Armada that came was to be the bridgehead, build a fort and expand as they were able until reinforcements arrived. Scouts out to ensure they took the easiest lands first to conquer, then the richest. I know the forts they are to come from. By his stubbornness, the King will only get angry at such a failure and gather more of his army. Perhaps this time to see where our land is defended and where it is not so they can gain their fort and reinforce it."

"No! We will not!" Edward stated loudly.

"So, it's war then?" Pinya asked.

"I do believe so. I also think a proper retaliatory strike needs to be made on King Edwards' palace along with a punitive strike on their port facilities. They do have 20 more warships, all sailing vessels," Suzanne told her.

"Empress, let me go and return, I will stop my fathers plans!" Richard begged.

"I'm sorry, you have a date with the headsman," Pinya said firmly. "Penelopy, have the Prince returned to his tent to await execution."

Richard continued to beg and fight the guards. He was tied to his stretcher and carried out, pleading for mercy.

"I'll take care of the palace strike, Empress," Suzanne told Pinya.

"Will that be a large effort?" Pinya asked, thinking of the fire Wolverine rained down on the fleet.

"No. One shot. You can come witness it if you like," Suzanne replied.

.

Pinya had ships, but they were Roman type galleys with rows of oars on each side. They would get devastated by the canon firing sailing ships in a fight. There was much remodeling of those big ships to do before they set out. The only good thing about them at the moment was that they were big.

Bozes was ready in the morning. Pinya called all the slaves to witness Richard's execution. Richard, now on a stretcher face down his head hanging off the end was brought out to a block of wood and supported in place. a hooded headsman with a large axe stood by. Watching from the side, Pinya was surrounded by her Knights and generals.

Bozes announced, "Prince Richard of Haplan! You have been condemned to death by beheading for leading an unprovoked attack on the Colada Empire." She then turned to Pinya. Pinya nodded. Bozes turned back. "Proceed with the execution!"

The headsman raised his axe.

"Don't I get a last word?" Richard cried.

**CHOP**

"Those was his last words," Bozes stated.

.

While Richard was being executed, inside Wolverine, Suzanne and her crew were planning out how to modify a couple galleys to take on a sailing fleet armed with canons.

"First, I think those ships need armor or else they will get shot full of holes," Diane stated.

"No sails either," Eddie added. "We'll have to put steam drive on them and canons shooting the explosive rounds we were talking about."

"Civil war type ships?" Suzanne asked. "Angled armor like the CSS Virginia?"

Diane chuckled "Too bad Alex wasn't here. She'd love that."

"We need to get a good picture of those galleys before we make any solid plans," Zhena said.

"We do," Suzanne agreed. "We'll get some before we head back to the palace for the party."

Diane grinned and said, "We're really going to fire a rail gun down on them? That's like hitting a fly with a sledgehammer."

"It will get their attention," Suzanne told her.

"The last time we did that, we made a volcano erupt," Eddie reminded her.

"We shoot at a lower angle. The shock wave alone will cause one hell of a quake. Everything for miles around will be flattened," Diane added.

"Then they will know not to screw with us any more."

"If there is anyone left," Eddie said dryly.

"Yes, we're going to obliterate the Haplan palace and everyone near it," Suzanne agreed. "We need to get going and do some work on finding and modifying a couple galleys. Let's get started."

.

The nearest war galleys Pinya had were in a coastal city 40 miles away in a bay. There were six ships on the harbor, docked. Overflying the ships and getting pictures, Suzanne had Wolverine set down by the docks. She showed the guard Captain her authorization from Empress Pinya, and got a tour of one of the ships.

The ships were long, and had rowing benches for 200 men placed two wide on each side of the ship, which took up most of the deck space. In the raised bow and stern were storage spaces, and two aft castle rooms for the captain and officers. The walkway between the rowers held blankets and rain gear for the slaves that powered the ship. The rudder was hinged right to the rear spine of the ship. The ships did set high enough in the water that adding metal to them would not lower the draft of the ships too badly.

Looking over the ships, Dane said, "Hey Suz, besides adding some cannons, and the steam drive gear, what about a flight of dragons and riders on each ship and make them aircraft carriers?"

"Dragon carriers," Suzanne replied with a smirk. "I like that idea."

Planning on a dual screw arraignment with two boilers and engines, Suzanne had the Admiral haul one ship up on the ways to work on after they returned from Pinya's party.

.


	10. Chapter 10

CH 10

In Pinya's grand palace the victory celebration began. Muyi was also present with her new baby. All the generals, their seconds, and the three division commanders who were at the battle were there, as was the Nobility from every kingdom. The large ballroom of the palace was filed, with servants shuttling food and drink as commanders and units were praised for their parts in the battle.

Diane stayed near Muyi and Devon when she wasn't checking on Consetta, who was up in Muyi's rooms with her nursemaid. Coming down from checking on her, Diane saw Suzanne and Pinya stand up on a table, obviously tipsy.

Holding her arms out, Suzanne announced, "For a victory as great as Empress Pinya won, there is a cheer we use from way back in school. Everyone, do it with us!" Suzanne and Pinya both thrust their fists in the air and yelled, "Panzer Vor!"

Diane thrust her fist up and yelled as the rest of the room did in a thundering roar.

"PANZER VOR!" It was followed by cheering and applause. Pinya put an arm around Suzanne's shoulders and announced. "Our great victory would not have been possible without Goddess Suzanne and her crew. Ever since the Gate opened years ago, Suzanne and her sister Diane, have proven to be great friends to our Empire. They shared their wisdom and knowledge with us, and at the shore, they shared their battle effectiveness. We have all been truly blessed with their presence and assistance."

Pinya then stumbled. Suzanne caught her and held her up. Diane noted Suzanne stepped on a plate, her foot flew out. With yelps, they both fell. Luckily, Eddie and another man caught them before they hit the floor.

Yup, they were toasted. OK, they were drunk off their asses. Diane went over to help.

"Have a bit too much?" Diane asked, wearing a smirk.

A little tipsy himself, Eddie raised a hand, showing a small space between his thumb and forefinger. "Just a bit."

"Nap time then, come on, girls," Diane stated.

Getting Suzanne and Pinya up on their feet the two clung to each other. Eddie and Diane steadied them and pointed them to the door.

"You are my best fiend," Pinya proclaimed in a slur.

A sloppy pat on the shoulder and Suzanne told her, "You are one of the best people I know." Seeing servants rush towards them, she flung an arm and said, "We got it!"

Wavering down the hall with Eddie and Diane supporting them on the sides, Pinya and Suzanne voiced their support for each other.

Coming to the Wolverine crew's suite, Suzanne and Pinya staggered in together. Eddie opened their bedroom door, meaning too get Suzanne in. Pinya went with her, their arms still around one another.

One of the bunny servants rushed in. "Umm, excuse me! Lord Devon is having problems with Countess Muyi," she offered.

Diane let out a huff. "Be right there." she replied, then told Eddie, "Get them in bed, make sure they don't sleep on their backs in case they get sick." She then followed the bunny woman out.

.

Muyi had reached her limit too. Devon was gently trying to coax Muyi up. Muyi was wavering place and wondering where Diane went.

"Here we go," Diane told her, and picked her up with her mind arms. "Show me to your rooms."

Lord Devon led the way while Muyi happily told Diane how wonderful Devon was to her.

Whisky breath. Yuck.

.

Suzanne wanted to kiss and make out. Eddie wanted to get her out of her clothes and in bed. Suzanne was agreeable to stripping as they kissed and played. Eddie had no idea what to do with Pinya who was hazing drunkenly at them.

With more kisses, petting and some fondling, Eddie got Susanne laid down and under the covers.

"Suzanne is very pretty," Pinya said, gazing at her. "And Eddie is such a good man."

Eddie then felt his shoulder grabbed. Pinya was now gazing at him. "Please, kiss me? I've never been kissed before."

Eddie gulped.

"Yes, kiss Pinya too, she deserves some play time," Suzanne agreed. "It's so sad she's never had any," she sniffled.

Eddie got to look at Pinya and she rose up to kiss him. Not a friendly kiss, but a deep, wanting kiss. Suzanne worked at Pinya's clothes. "She needs to get under the covers too.," Suzanne said with a grin.

Breaking the kiss, Eddie saw Pinya's gown was loosened. Looking at him with liquid eyes, Pinya whispered, "Please."

Eddie got it, she wanted him to make love to her.

"Eddie, Pinya's never made love before," Suzanne said in a whine. "That's terrible!"

Eddie had just enough to drink where he agreed with her. "It is. Empress, may we have the honor?" he asked softly.

"Please," Pinya cried and pulled him down into another lip lock.

.

Diane got Muyi in bed and covered up, and assured her Consetta was fine. She gave Devon the same warning, don't let Myui sleep on her back, then left. Heading back to the ballroom, Diane noted the party was breaking up. Some people were leaving, a couple were passed out. A young Lord sat with a servant straddling his lap as he kissed and fondled her. It was time to head for bed.

Going up the hall , Diane heard a cy of, "No, I don't belong to you!"

Diane tipped her head and listened.

"You are so unique, I juat have to have you!"

"No! I'm not yours!"

Diane slowed and listened to the door it was coming from.

"Stop!" the girl cried.

The door was locked, Diane smashed it open. Inside, one of the noblemen had Polimare in a tight grip, trying to get her clothes off. Poimare was hugging herself in his grasp. Upon seeing Diane, she cried, "Help!"

"I don't think she wants to play with you," Diane stated heavily.

The nobleman in his fine clothes turned his head. "This is my room, get out!"

Diane grabbed his hair and pulled him upright. He tried grabbing whatever was holding him, and Polimare broke free and ran over behind Diane. Diane tossed him back to land clumsily in a chair.

"She doesn't want to play with you," Diane said in a hard tone.

Casting her a drunken grin, the man asked, "Maybe you do?"

Diane let out a snort. "I have better taste than that." She pushed Polimare out in front of her. The man struggled up and came at her. Diane shoved him back into his chair.

"Learn some manners!" Diane scolded and walked out.

"Why you!" the man raged. He burst out into the hallway. Diane glanced at him and gave him a harder shove, all the way back to the ballroom. He landed on the floor and stayed there.

"Thank you for saving me," Polimare offered meekly.

Diane put an arm around her. Frowning at the green girl, she said, "You're one of us. The only one who gets to abuse you, is me."

Polimare giggled.

.

Pinya was in heaven. Suzanne and Eddie were petting and kissing her naked body. The buzz from the drink swam in her head, and she was feeling wonderful sensations. She loved the deep kisses with Suzanne, and held Eddie's head to her as he suckled on her nipple and petted low on her belly. Her brain was awash in wonderful feelings.

They petted every inch of her in loving strokes. When the time came when Eddie mounted her and petted her groin, she was more than ready. Withering in delight, she accepted him in and held on for all she was worth. It was an invasion into her body, but one she welcomed. She wrapped herself around him and let the passion flow. Her passion built and built until she was sure the sheer Joy was going to take her life. Then, her world shuddered in waves of inexplicable joy so much she had trouble breathing, her voice came out only in a long moan. As the powerful waves receded, Pinya passed out.

.

Suzanne was next, and eager to get her share. Like Pinya, Suzanne she rode Eddie hard, orgasmed and passed out. Eddie flopped down between them, having only enough room to lay on his side. He was spent.

The door opened and Diane came in. Seeing all the clothes piled on the floor, and Eddie wedged between Suzanne and Pinya, she asked, "What's this?"

"I got them asleep," Eddie said in a tired breath.

All three were taking up half the bed. Not happy, Diane got undressed and said, "Eddie, move over to the other side of Pinya, more room."

He did. Diane slipped in bed beside him.

"Diane, Suz was kind of insistent."

Diane nodded absently. "That you do Pinya too?"

"Yeah. Suz was upset Pinya ha never had sex before," he agreed with wince. "Are you mad?"

Diane frowned and flicked his nose. "Just hold me, dummy." She snuggled into Eddie, he put his arms around her. He petted her a bit then stopped and snored.

Damn it!

.

Pinya came to a semi-conscious state, feeling warm and pleasantly satisfied. Waking up slowly, she opened her eyes and went to stretch and found bodies on either side of her. Quickly she woke the rest of the way up and sat up, wondering where she was. The motion hurt her head. On her right Suzanne was slumbering, on her left was Eddie, who held Diane in his arms.

Panic briefly caused her heart to race. Slowly, she remembered last night. Yes, she had come in to bed with Suzanne and Eddie, and they had quite the pleasant time together. She wasn't sure if she should feel embarrassed or happy they had taken care of her. She did know her head was feeling big and it was cooler sitting up. She flopped back down and snuggled up to Eddie to get her warm feeling back. For the moment, she could forget about being Empress and all her worries, and just snuggle with her lovers.

What a nice feeling that was.

.

Bozes came out of her room to find servants frantic. One of the butlers came up with a worries look on his face. "We can't find Empress Pinya! She wasn't in her rooms this morning!"

"When was she last seen?' Bozes asked firmly.

"The party last night, I believe."

"Fine out, now!" Bozes snapped.

"Yes, Ma'am!" he replied and hurried off.

Bozes rushed up to the Empress' rooms and searched for clues. The maid there showed Bozes the bed that hadn't been slept in and the explained when she came in, there was no sign of their Empress.

Worried, Bozes went to the first place she knew of for help. She knocked then went into the Goddesses sitting room. Within, the lizard women and the green woman were sitting at the table with morning tea. They both looked at her.

Offering a bow, Bozes said, "Please pardon the intrusion, our Empress is missing. May I see one of the Goddesses?"

Zhena got up. "I'll get Silver hair." She went into their room, then backed out and shut the door. Pointing, she said, "I found her."

Bozes asked, "Will she help find our Empress?"

"Your Empress is who I found," Zhena explained. "She's sleeping between Suzanne and Eddie."

Bozes' jaw dropped. "Between…" she asked weakly.

"You should not pass along that information," Zhena told her.

"What?" Polimare asked and got up. "After Diane told me to sleep by myself?"

The bedroom door opened. Diane came out in a robe. "Morning. We're going to need some aspirin."

Behind her, Eddie came out, also in a house robe. "Morning, everyone. Polimare, aspirin please?"

Diane grinned and said, "Suz and Pinya are going to need it. They were pretty drunk last night."

Polimare got in their medical kit and got a bottle of aspirin out.

"Dame Bozes, right?" Eddie asked. "Would you care to have some tea with us?"

Bozes blinked. Empress Pinya was sleeping with three people? The Empress didn't do things like that! She heard Eddie's request and sat down, her mind spinning.

Eddie got out more cups, Diane served the tea and put aspirin tablets by Suzanne's place and Pinya's.

Frazzle haired, Pinya came out in a robe holding her head. She hugged Eddie and gave him a quick kiss. He held her chair for her at the end and sat her down. "Take the white pills, they will help you feel better," he coaxed.

Suzanne then came out and gave Eddie a hug and a kiss. He held her chair as she sat.

"Aspirin, thank god," Suzanne said and took the tablets with a slurp of tea.

"A little hangover, ladies?" Diane asked with smirk.

Pinya grew a crooked grin. "Indeed, but worth it." Seeing Bozes staring at her, she put a finger to her lips.

Collecting enough presence of mind, Bozes said, "Not a word, your Majesty. What do I tell everyone who's looking for you?"

"You found me. Everyone can calm down." Pinya replied.

"Of course. I should be going," Bozes said and got up. On the way out, she bumped against the doorframe. Their Empress had been so regal and proper all these years. It stunned her that she would engage in behavior like that!

.

Once they got the day going, Suzanne led her crew on a flight to see of those four ships had made port yet. She found a group of three, near Haplan, the fourth was on it side, all but sunk. Zhena figured they would get back to a port in two days at the latest.

Steel was on it's way to the port where Pinya's Admiral had pulled two ships up on the ways. Landing, Suzanne met with the Admiral to show him the modifications she had planned for these ships.

The work began. The walkway down the center asle was preserved for dragon riders to take off and land. The rowers benches were removed except for three rows. The Admiral wanted to keep some rowers in case the new steam drive failed. The mast was pulled and a shorter mast with crow's nest was put up in the aftcastle for a lookout. Inside the ship, walls were taken down. Room was made for two boilers the engines, shafts and piping for the steam canons. Without the need for two hundred rowers, rooms for the dragons and riders were made, and the supply storage was bigger.

Besides modifying the ships, Suzanne had the four platoons of dragon riders practice dropping rocks down on targets. After a few days or practice, she had the monitors begin writing down scores of their hits. The platoon that scored the most hits that day, got a free meal at the local Inn. The squad with the most hits for the day got a silver coin each.

Practice became more intent as they competed against each other to hit the white sheet on the ground. After official practice was over for the day, many kept on practicing.

As more hit the sheet on a regular basis, Suzanne had the sheet folded in half and the corners folded in to make it roughly ship-shaped. The drops were getting more and more accurate.

The steel and boilers came. Diane and Eddie had worked to put in the base for the boilers, a box frame filled with dirt then capped with stone for sturdy bases and not catch the ship on fire from the heat. The helped the pipe fitters rig the piping, then when the engines came, they secured them in place. The holes in the hull where the shafts went through, they took up the extra space with grease-soaked packing.

Suzanne took trips to check on the Haplan ports. There was activity, but no massing of ships. She did note many were being built. Troops were also gathering in camps outside of town. Yup, they planned on coming again.

The armor was the last to go on. Each side of the ship had six steam canons on pivots to pan fore to aft so they could all shoot at the same point. The lower armor was supported way from the hull to give the armor a slope. The armor extended above the deck just short of the canon barrels to give the crew maximum protection. The boilers were filled and the ship was float tested. Although a little lower in the water, the first ship sat upright, and better yet, it didn't leak.

Dock testing went well. The rudder still moved like it should, a slow turn of the engines showed the drive gear was good, and each canon fired a shot. Next, the dragon riders practiced landing and taking off. Once the ship tested well dockside, it was sea tested. Diane went to make sure the engines worked, Suzanne went to verify the whole ship worked.

Moving away from the dock, the ship headed out of the bay picking up speed and blowing exhaust behind it up in the air from the two large pipes. Seeing the smoke cloud behind them, Suzanne knew they had to do something about that. Other than leaving a thick trail of smoke, ship performed well and got up to a very respectable 15 knots. That gave them a speed and maneuverability advantage.

Using the design, the other ship on the way was modified and another ship was brought up to get modified.

The first ship was loaded with supplies and a platoon of Dragon riders with the crew, and set out for a few weeks of coastline patrol.

With the first ship a success, Pinya asked Suzanne to deliver a group of spies to Haplan. The group was four men, a wizard, a cleric and a dragon.

Landing at Pinya's palace, Suzanne met a happy Pinya up in her Throne room. Instead of sitting on her Throne, Pinya met Suzanne at the table at the foot to show her where she wanted her spies left off.

Suzanne agreed with the placing, between the two busiest Haplan ports that were building ships and gathering troops. "Empress, when do you want them picked up?" Suzanne asked.

"They have a wizard with them. He will send back important information," Pinya explained. She then leaned close and whispered, "I have gotten a bonus from our … happy time together. I'll have my heir."

Suzanne looked at her wide grin. "You're pregnant?"

Pinya nodded. "Yes, thank you! I can have my heir and not have to risk marrying some questionable man."

"Congratulations," Suzanne replied blankly. She was going to have Eddie's baby! That wasn't something they had planned on. Suzanne decided not to tell Eddie or Diane. She wasn't sure how to take this news. She was sure Eddie might be upset, and Diane would be. She didn't want Pinya mauled.

A midnight run to Haplan and they dropped off the spies. They then returned to ship building.

.

A letter came for Suzanne. Miho, Erwin , Kay, George, Nova and Alex were meeting for a High School Sensha-do reunion in Tokyo at a hotel near the Gate, and requested Suzanne and her crew attend. Others were coming if they could make it.

Eager to see their old friends, Suzanne send back a positive reply and also made sure Empress Pinya knew they were going, an about when they would return. A visit to Ittalica for Diane to see how Myui and Contessa were doing, then Suzanne took her crew to the gate to see how their world was faring.

Trade was sprouting in Alnus city near the gate. Not major bulky items, but cultural things as food, clothing and small items. Going through the Gate in a SUV, Suzanne and her crew left Polimar and Zhena to watch Wolverine. Although Suzanne trusted Pinya, she didn't trust everyone on this side of the Gate enough to leave their ship empty.

The reunion was great. Hugging old friends and finding out what everyone was doing now, everyone had a good time. With the drinks a few 'Panzer Vor's were bellowed out. Of course Kay had a speech to give.

Holding her martini, Kay went up to the microphone in her dark blue evening gown. "Welcome all you fellow tankers! It's great to see you all. It's also good to see how much Sensha-do has enriched our lives long after we had to leave our tanks behind. It is no question in my mind why the friends I run into, Erwin, George, Miho, Mariko, Katusha, Otto, and of course, the Terror Twins," she said, pointing at each she named them, "Have done so much in their lives. This sport gave us all confidence and courage. By driving those tanks, there is very little we fear. There is very little we can't do when we set our minds to it. Some may not believe, but we do, that here, right now, is the best of the best! Congratulations to every one of us …"

Seeing Kay cock back a fist, everyone in the room did also and thrusting their fists out, the yell of, "PANZER VOR!" echoed out into the street.

Alex, Diane and Eddie got together to sing 'Dixie'. Then Kay, Nova and George got together to sing 'battle hymn of the republic. They all cheered.

This time Suzanne took it easy on the alcohol with her mates. They had a great time meeting old friends and were sober enough to remember it and get themselves back through the Gate.

"Dam that was fun," Daine said as they rode back.

"It was a blast," Suzanne agreed.

.

A few day later on a routine coast patrol, The first modified Colada ship sighted sails on the horizon. Closing, the sails became larger and the Haplan ship was identified. The captain ordered full steam on both boilers and called his ship to arms. As the ships closed and canons were readied, the dragon riders took off, one after the other.

The Haplan ship turned to move away, doing eight knots by wind. The Colada ship charge at them under 14 knots of steam and slowly increasing speed to close on them as the dragons riders flew high over the Haplan ship.

The Haplan ship turned again as the Dragon riders began dropping their burning oil. Pops of musket shot sounded. By the time each rider had dropped his second bottle and the groups turned to come at the ship again, the ship was on fire. One more drop by the riders, and men were jumping overboard.

The dragon riders returned to their ship as it plowed through the water. The wind from their movement helped the dragons land. The Captain kept them on board and had them go below. The Haplan ship was burning bright, the sails had mostly burned away. Only strips of sail sheets were left drifting on the wind as fire consumed them and crawled up the masts. The Captain was hoping to get close enough to shoot his canon, but the Haplan ship exploded. The most he could do was slow down to take on prisoners and shoot a few life boats trying desperately to row away.

His Dragon Riders had been very effective weapons at sea.

.

By the time the third Colada ship was finished, Pinya sent news that her spies discovered the large group of Haplan ships was going to be finished soon, and once floated, crews would be trained and then loaded up for a 'decisive' attack on the Colada coast. The best Suzanne and the Admiral could guess was this was going to be three weeks from now.

The Admiral wanted to hit the harbors before the ships left port.

Suzanne had another idea. "Admiral, those ships will be vulnerable in port, yes. If you hit them when those ships are out on their training voyages, we can hit the ports and burn them up, then catch the ships out on the water, defenseless. Have your ships angle towards them to maximize their protection and hit them from the back or the front with canon, and drop whatever oil pots you have left on them. I doubt many will make it back for repair, and those that do will have few facilities to do repairs."

The Admiral grinned and send out his messenger to ask for when those ships hit the water. By the time his ships got there, the Haplan ships would be on training cruises.

A fourth ship was being modified and another Dragon Rider platoon was being trained. His three ships were resupplied for a long voyage and held in port to await for the day they needed to depart for Haplan. The Galleys would not be able to keep up with the steam driven ships, so he four sent out as resupply ships to allow his steam ships to get more oil, ballista bolts and canon ammunition. He maintained a battery of seven ballistas on the fo'cles of his ships. They were proven weapons.

.

The day came when a message came in the Haplan ships were being launched. The Admiral set his small fleet to sail. As Suzanne advised, he send out Dragon scouts high in the air to study the horizon once an hour to look for ships for from his.

Figuring it would take them five days to get there, on day four Wolverine lifted up and followed the fleet.

Hanging over the three steam ships, Wolverine crew also had the supply ships on radar behind them. The first Haplan port was only 50 miles away. Watching below, Suzanne noted a dragon rider saw the coastline and turned back.

"Looks like it starts today," Suzanne noted.

"The Colada ships will be in range in a couple hours," Zhena agreed. "There are plenty of ships in the harbor."

"We go and break up the Kings castle?" Diane asked.

"After we watch this first engagement," Suzanne replied.

Two more Dragon riders flew out to eye the port and returned. The Colada ships turned parallel to the coast line ten miles out. Nearing the port, they slowed and Dragons flew away in lines, each carrying ten oil bombs. They stayed high until they reached the port, then dove down and dropped oil bombs on the ships and docks.

On the ground figures ran as oil splashed around them and burned. One rider tossed his one after another and hit two ships and stack of supplies before he banked away. By the time soldiers arrived, the dragon riders were headed down the coast, then out to sea. Men fought the fires, trying to save their ships.

Rearmed, the dragons came in gain. Flying high, the flashes of musket fire at them wasn't hitting any of them. Dropping from high up, there were a few more misses, and some oil bombs landed in the water, but they still broke and ignited. From what Suzanne saw, it was going to take a couple more flights to incinerate the whole harbor.

"Eddie, head inland to that castle, it's time to give them a real bad day."

"You got is, Suz."

Eddie flew inland. Suzanne had him hover fifteen miles out. Eddie lined up, aiming at the hill under the castle. Diane announced, "Ready when you are, Suz."

"It's goona suck to be them," Eddie noted. He glanced down. "Rail guns charged."

Watching the castle, Suzanne said, "Eddie fire one round."

"One round … fired."

Wolverine recoiled as the round left the ship. Instantly, the hill erupted, blowing the top completely off and the castle away in bits. The lower part of the hill depressed and blew out to the sides, then recoiled back up. The concussion blasted out to flatten the buildings they could see, the compression wave racing out to the sides to blow pieces of building, trees and other debris out to the sides. They heard the thunderclap as the air came back together to produce a secondary wave. The hill and bits of castle rained down on the city ruins below. If anyone down there was still alive, Suzanne would be surprised.

"Eddie, take us back to the fleet."

"You got it, Suz."

.

Returning to the fleet, they saw the fleet was passing the burning port and the dragons were back on board. Besides the conflagrating below, they saw debris in the streets and few collapsed building nowhere near the water.

"That concussion didn't go this far," Diane noted.

"No, but the earthquake did," Zhena told her. "Most likely, there are aftershocks as the ground resettled."

"That was a big boom," Eddie noted.

"We destroyed their royalty," Suzanne said tonelessly. "I hope whoever comes next won't be a war monger."

"We can only hope," Diane replied.

Following the fleet, they saw the dragons launch 15 miles before the fleet that was now only a few miles out, arrived. Instead of hitting the docks first, the dragon riders went after the three canons placed at the harbor entrance first. Only after those were on fire and exploding did they drop oil bombs on the ships and docks. Like the last port, buildings here had damage. A couple oil bombs down on the splintered remains caused large fires. After three passes, the Colada steam ships came into view to shoot canon into the harbor and buildings beyond. Each ship that went by, fired a few broadsides then moved on. Just past the burning harbor town, the dragons all landed and the steam ships turned out to sea.

Suzanne figured it should be a long time before Pinya heard anything from Haplan.


	11. Chapter 11

CH 11

Sailing farther out from shore before turning around to head home, the small Colada fleet met more Haplan ships out on exercises. The first was a fleet of seven, sailing along in line. Eight miles behind them, The Captains of the Colada ships sent out the dragon riders with the last of their oil bombs. The lookouts did see them coming, the neat line broke up and tried to evade as the oil bombs were dropped. Five of the seven ships caught fire. The dragon riders stayed over the fleet, riders coming swooping down then flying off. Now and then another oil bomb would drop. In their attempts to keep from burning, two ships ran into each over, another lost wind, the sails drooping. It was hit with three more il bombs.

The Haplan ships spread apart, all eyes on the threat from above. They didn't notice the Colada ships steaming quickly towards them until they fire they canons. They formation now broken up and six of the seven ships burning, the Haplan ships had no coordinated defense. The ship not on fire did manage to get in position and fire a broadside that fell short.

One of the Haplan ships blew up. Others were abandoning their flaming vessels. The lone intact Haplan ship was being charged by a 15 knot steamer with an armored bow that was closing fast. The Haplan ship got off another broadside, the cannonballs bounced off the bow, then the Colada ship rammed them amid-ships. The Halan ship shuddered and broke apart from the impact. Heavier and with more momentum, the Colada ship ripped through to break the Haplan ship in half as ballistas fired down on the terrified crew. Another Haplan ship went down in flames. All the crews were bailing off their ships, some in row boats, most were in the water trying to stay afloat.

Turning around and slowing down, it took the Colada fleet more time to pick the prisoners out of the water than it did to destroy their fleet.

.

Returning to the Queen's Palace, Suzanne gave Pinya a report of the results of their battles. What Suzanne did to that castle and the resulting destruction of the whole area, shocked Pinya.

"My Wizard reported a powerful quake in the ground, that was from destroying their King's castle?" Pinya asked.

"It was. Building all the way to the shore were damaged," Suzanne told her. "I doubt Haplan will be able to mount any kind of attack against you for quite a while. If there are any royalty left, they will be sure to think twice before sending anything against you."

Pinya stared at Suzanne. That castle had been sixty miles from the cost, according to her sources. She knew Suzanne was powerful, but this time Suzanne had struck with power straight from the mightiest Gods! For a Goddess so powerful to befriend her, Pinya felt very honored and very small next to Suzanne. She bowed deeply to the Goddess who could smite an entire nation. "Goddess, I humbly thank you for everything you have done for us. We are truly blessed to even be in your presence."

Suzanne cast her a smirk. "Empress, you are one of the best people we know. If we did not believe in you, we would never have helped you like we have. If anyone in this world can make it a better place, it is you."

Pinya nodded firmly. "I will always do my best for everyone, Goddess."

As Pinya returned her smile, Suzanne had another thought hit her. Eddie had given Pinya a child. Eddie had to be soaked with her and Diane's DNA. That meant Pinya was also going to have a diclinous child. With a wince, she realized she would be expected to watch over that child also. "Ahh, Empress, there is one thing I think you should know. There is a very good chance that your baby will … Umm, be like me and Diane."

Pinya's jaw dropped. "You mean…"

"Yes, like Myui you too will most likely have a baby with horns and inherit our powers," Suzanne told her. "That means we must stay to help teach these children in their younger years, at least."

Pinya gaped at Suzanne then stepped up and hugged her in joy. "Thank you Goddess!" she cried.

Suzanne hugged her back and added, "That means Diane will know, so will Eddie. I need to talk to them … in Itallica. Just in case there is a bad reaction."

"A bad reaction?" Pinya asked as she pulled back.

"Diane wanted to be the first to have Eddie's child," Suzanne explained. "She might not take the news well. It's best if we are someplace else when I tell her."

"oh," Pinya said blankly. She knew people who upset Diane didn't live very long.

"Don't worry, I'll handle it," Suzanne assured her. "Just concentrate on your people as you have been."

Pinya straightened herself up and said, "If you are going to stay, I must allow you lands to build your palace on and provide the workers. Decide where you want to live, and let me know. I want you to be comfortable here."

"That's not necessary …" Suzanne started.

Pinya interrupted her with, "It is necessary! I will not have our Goddesses living in anything but proper royal accommodations as you deserve!"

Suzanne chuckled at her. "If you insist, Empress."

"I do! So please accept my hospitality for all the work and friendship you have given to my Empire."

"Very well," Suzanne replied with a sigh. "I must collect my crew and visit Itallica, then look for a place to build our new home."

.

Suzanne didn't want anyone else around when she explained to Eddie and especially Diane that Pinya was going to have Eddie's child. Instead of flying straight to Ittalica, Suzanne had Diane fly to an alpine field on a mountain on the way there.

Diane set Wolverine down as Suzanne instructed. She then asked, "Why are we here?"

Suzanne got up and said, "Lets sit back in the kitchen area."

Eddie eyed her. He felt Suzanne was nervous. "This is big, isn't it?" he asked.

"Huge," Suzanne agreed.

"Suz? Just remember I have to watch out for Myui and Consetta," Diane offered.

"That is part of it," Suzanne agreed.

Zhena took a seat at the small table with Poimare, Suzanne sat on the bed, Eddie and Diane bracketing her. They all looked at Suzanne expectantly.

Suzanne tried to think of how to break the news gently and said, "I thought we should discuss this with no one else around."

"No one else is around for at lest a hundred miles," Eddie noted.

"The only place we could be more remote, is if we were in orbit," Diane agreed. "So, what is it?"

Suzanne started off easy. "Pinya is going to give us land and assistance to build a palace on. I'm thinking part way between the Capitol city and Itallica. She does insist we have a palace. We already know we have to help Myui with her baby, so we don't want to be living too far away."

Diane eyed her. "So why… wait, why halfway in between unless…"

Suzanne left out a huff and said, "Pinya is also pregnant."

"You mean…" Eddie began and gaped at her.

"They have no birth control here," Suzanne told him.

Diane's hands crimped up into fists. "She's going to have Eddie's baby!" she cried.

"Hey, that's not fair, what about me?" Polimare cried out.

"I say we plan an abortion for her," Diane said, glaring at Suzanne.

Suzanne glared back at her. "No! Pinya is very happy about having the heir that she will need. We are NOT going to do anything to her or her baby!"

Turning red faced, Diane blurted out, "Then … no more birth control for me, either!"

"Same here!" Polimare stated.

Diane snapped her head to Polimare. "You shut up!"

"Just one time, and she's pregnant?" Eddie asked in disbelief.

"Diane, get control of yourself," Suzanne said firmly. "I'm not the happiest either, but what is, is. It's partially my fault, So when the baby comes, I'll help Pinya with it just as you help Myui with her baby."

"So, we are staying here," Zhena concluded.

"Yes, for a few years at least," Suzanne replied. "We have to make sure these children are brought up right."

Eddie frowned slightly then said, "This may be for the best."

Diane stared at him, as did Suzanne. Seeing them eyeing him, he shrugged and said, We did want to settle down someplace after the Bug war, right? This is nice country and I doubt anyone is going to give us a hard time. Plus, it's remote. We can live a pretty nice life here." To Suzanne, he asked, "Pinya isn't going to expect me to be the father, or move into her castle with her, is she?"

"She's not," Suzanne assured him as she thought about living here. "I would like a rest far away from the royal stuff back home."

"Yeah, me too. I've had my fill of that," Diane agreed. "We can stay as long as the gate is open. Even if we stay longer, when we go back, we can just time travel back a bit to a few weeks after we left."

"Can you accept Pinya has a baby?" Suzanne asked, studying her.

"As long as it's just Pinya's baby," Diane said firmly. "I'm not happy and I don't want to hear anything from anyone that it's Eddie's."

Zhena offered, "Why don't we take a walk outside. Scanning it on the way in, this does look like a nice place."

"It does," Eddie agreed. He got up and added, "We can also talk about something else besides babies."

Eager to change the subject, everyone agreed. Suzanne lowered the ramp and they went outside.

Diane hadn't landed on the top of the mountain, but close enough that it was visible a few hundred feet up. The flat they were on was fairly large and had a gentle slope down. Grass and flowers were everywhere here. The air smelled fresh and scented with the white, yellow and purple flowers around them. A couple hundred yards away, the lower slope dropped off to continue down the mountainside. Beyond was a grand view of rolling hills and valleys.

"This is nice," Polimare said as she took in the view.

"I don't know of anyplace better," Suzanne agreed.

"We are about halfway to Ittalica," Diane noted. "You know, I've seen a big rainstorm here, but not anywhere, even on mountaintops, have I ever seen snow."

Suzanne glanced at her. "Come to think about it, the temperature does seem stable. How about we give it a year here and see how it goes?"

"Sounds good to me," Eddie said.

"Yes, lets," Polimare agreed.

Zhena pointed a claw off to the left. "Is that a pond over there?"

Where Zhena pointed, a small waterfall came down fro above. Listening closely, they could hear a larger waterfall. They went over to find there was a long pond from the uphill waterfall that spread out to maybe thirty feet wide, then narrowed before turning back into a stream and dropping over a cliff. Because the water was so clear, their best guess was it was five feet deep at in the middle. "Perfect," Zhena said quietly. "We can give this place a year at least."

Suzanne nodded. Here, they could have their home and raise a family. Here, everyone liked them, Diane could feel accepted for who they were. Here, she would not have to worry about being dragged into royal politics. OK, so they were considered Goddesses, but that only meant people would leave them alone if they wanted. Once the gate closed, whether they decided to go back or not was completely up to them. "Yeah, perfect," she agreed. "We are going to need to do a ton of work building a big house."

"I'm game."

"Me too."

"Count me in."

"Then, we'll give it a shot," Suzanne announced. "This will be our home."

**THE END**


End file.
